Ana Who?
It’s easy to ignore what doesn’t officially exist.
Ana is five years old, one of nine children born to a poor single mom who works impossible shifts as a cleaner in Beirut, Lebanon. Ana came into the care of Cedar Home, a home for orphaned, marginalized, and refugee girls supported through FAIR.
Because Ana’s parents were not married, her birth was never registered. And because her birth was not registered, this little girl didn’t legally exist. This meant that she could never get health care, social security, education, or work because she had no identification papers.
Karim Anayssi, Fellowship missionary and Executive Director of Cedar Home, took some unusual steps to better Ana’s prospects in life. He sought out the man believed to be Ana’s father, verified that they were father and daughter through DNA testing, sat down with him over coffee, and persuaded him to marry Ana’s mother just for one day!
Ana now legally exists, thanks to her identification papers.
This is only one small part of all that goes into the ministry that Karim, and his wife Rita, carry out on behalf of the girls they provide for through FAIR and the Fellowship Child Sponsorship program in partnership with churches and individuals across Canada. This residential program provides holistic care that includes the spiritual nurturing of each child.
You can hear the whole story from Karim.
To protect these vulnerable youth, we have used pseudonyms where appropriate and included only representative photos and not those of the actual children where necessary. Consent was obtained for all images.