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Nigerian newcomers grateful to be in Canada, find hope in new surroundings in Montreal

Click to play video: 'Nigerian asylum seekers welcomed with gifts for new home'
Nigerian asylum seekers welcomed with gifts for new home
WATCH: Montrealers are reaching out to several families of Nigerian asylum seekers to help them furnish their new apartments just one month after they crossed the border into Canada. Tim Sargeant explains – Dec 8, 2017

Mojisola Kafidipe, from Nigeria, is thrilled to be living in her new Montreal home.

Kafidipe and her three children are still settling into their new two-bedroom apartment.

The family has been in Canada for about one month — they crossed the border from the U.S. on foot — after a two-month stay in the U.S.

“I’m so grateful. I’m so happy. God Bless Canada,” Kafidipe told Global News.

The family has also received gifts from a Good Samaritan. Emilie Regnière, a West Island resident, learned about the new Nigerian arrivals from a Facebook posting.

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She decided to get involved and donate her own excess belongings — kitchen supplies, clothes and toys — to help out.

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“You see how they have nothing and they’re still living happily and we have so much stuff we don’t know what to do with it,” Regnière told Global News.

The new arrivals are loving it here and are hoping to have a better life than the one they left behind in their native land.

Ogunjimmi Folasade Omotola is another asylum seeker. The Nigerian moved here coming from the U.S only a few weeks ago.

WATCH BELOW: Beware of slumlords, warns NGO to Quebec asylum seekers

Click to play video: 'Beware of slumlords, warns NGO to Quebec asylum seekers'
Beware of slumlords, warns NGO to Quebec asylum seekers

But the widow had to leave her teenage children in Nigeria because she couldn’t afford to fly them over yet.

She’s hoping they’ll join her in the near future.

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“I want a better life, a better future for me and my kids. Over there, there is nothing for me,” she said.

Eventually, the Nigerians are hoping to be able to get jobs and integrate into the Quebec and Canadian cultures.

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