{"id":3575,"date":"2013-04-23T13:38:44","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T18:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=3575"},"modified":"2013-07-11T09:05:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T14:05:24","slug":"paralyzed-newcomer-confident-he-will-walk-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2013\/paralyzed-newcomer-confident-he-will-walk-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Paralyzed newcomer optimistic he will walk again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dieudonne\"<\/a>By Nolan Kehler<\/p>\n

In Dieudonne\u2019s small apartment, there is a colorful menagerie of crocheted animals \u2013 elephants, frogs, and cats. He sells them for $15 each. Crocheting is one of the few things Dieudonne can do to make money. He is paralyzed from the waist down.<\/p>\n

Dieudonne is a 40-year-old immigrant from Burundi, a small country in central Africa and one of the five poorest nations in the world. He was sponsored to come to the rural community of Altona, Man., by Build a Village, an organization that partners with Mennonite Central Committee in bringing refugees to Canada.<\/p>\n

Darlene Enns-Dyck is a member of the organization, and also the pastor of Dieudonne\u2019s home congregation, Seeds Community Church. She recalls the process to bring Dieudonne to Canada was difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were asked many times, \u2018Are you sure? Do you have the community support?\u2019, but we really needed to step into this,\u201d Enns-Dyck says.<\/p>\n

She points to a Bible verse from Matthew that guides the organization: \u201c’Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for\u00a0me.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDieudonne is the least of these,\u201d Enns-Dyck says. \u201cWe were sure God would come alongside him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dieudonne grew up in Burundi, living on his parents\u2019 farm and never going to school. After he left home at the age of 18, the government imprisoned him during ethnic violence in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

Dieudonne, however, felt fortunate to be in jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were in jail and you didn\u2019t do anything wrong, you were fine,\u201d he says of his time there.<\/p>\n

He was there for eight years, and still managed to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI washed clothes for the rich. Rich people can\u2019t wash their clothes themselves,\u201d he chuckles.<\/p>\n

He was released from prison in 2002, but he didn\u2019t return to his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen my parents since I left home,\u201d he says. \u201cThey don\u2019t think about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He does not tell the story of his father. But Dieudonne\u2019s friend, Marlous Fehr, goes into more detail, describing how Dieudonne\u2019s father was murdered when his neighbour poisoned him last year.<\/p>\n

Dieudonne was in a refugee camp in Tanzania when he was paralyzed. He climbed a tree to get firewood but fell out of the tree, landing on his neck. He was rushed to a hospital, which became his home for six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do something,\u201d he says. \u201cI decided to find a way to use my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was when he learned to crochet.<\/p>\n

It was as a result of his paralysis that he came to Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor asked me if I want to go to Canada, and I said, \u2018Yeah, sure.\u2019 I didn\u2019t plan anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fehr explains that the doctors said, \u201cGo to Canada, they can help\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dieudonne soon learned how important it is to stay warm in a Manitoba winter. He remembers receiving his first winter clothing when he arrived in Canada from the refugee camp in Tanzania.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave me a big jacket and a big hat,\u201d he chuckles. \u201cThey tried to put boots on, but my feet didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has been here now for almost five years, and the doctors have told him that they can\u2019t do anything about his paralysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll he wanted was to fix his back,\u201d Fehr says. \u201cWe can just bring him food and play games. We\u2019re not doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had to deal with some dashed hopes,\u201d Enns-Dyck adds.<\/p>\n

But Dieudonne hasn\u2019t given up on a cure. During an interview, he displays a new business card that he acquired for a spine specialist in Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to walk soon,\u201d he says with a big grin on his face.<\/p>\n

Dieudonne has had a positive impact on those around him since he arrived in Altona.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been fun to watch him experience new things,\u201d Enns-Dyck says. \u201cHe likes to eat with people and throw parties. He has been an incredible blessing to the community. I\u2019m glad we took the plunge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan Kehler is a student at CMU. This article was written as part of his coursework.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nolan Kehler In Dieudonne\u2019s small apartment, there is a colorful menagerie of crocheted animals \u2013 elephants, frogs, and cats. He sells them for $15 each. Crocheting is one of the few things Dieudonne can do to make money. He is paralyzed from the waist down. Dieudonne is a 40-year-old immigrant from Burundi, a small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[156,376],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3575"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3586,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3575\/revisions\/3586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}