Montrealers are meeting Bukola Babayemi under the most tragic of circumstances. She is the mother of six-year-old Bukumi, who passed away after drowning in a Saint-Léonard pool on Monday.
According to some residents who live nearby, the 20-metre pool was filled with neighbourhood children on the steaming hot day and supervised by one lifeguard with no elevated chair.
The Babayemis’ are Nigerian refugees who came to Canada in April after crossing the Canadian-U.S. border via Roxham Road. They live in a small one-bedroom apartment on the first floor of a low-rise apartment complex. It is there that Bukola will continue to live with her two surviving children.
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Since the drowning, Montrealers have rallied online and in person offering the family furniture, clothes and food.
Karine Lamothe, the assistant director of a non-profit organization called Mon Reseau located in Montreal North, was at Bukola’s apartment on Thursday and tearfully told Global News she wanted to help the woman since she was once helped herself.
“I am a single mother and I was in bad place,” she said. “Now, I spend my free time helping other people who need it.”
A volunteer for an organization called Committee Canada Soins Releve Vie was also at the apartment complex alongside Lamothe.
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While she wished to remain anonymous, she explained she was in the process of setting up a GoFundMe page with the authorization of Bukola and of Emploi Quebec’s specialized centre for asylum seekers.
She added that while she noticed other GoFundMe pages have been set up she warned people need to exercise caution when creating one because it could impact Bukola’s welfare payments.
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The women trying to help talked rapidly over each other, excitedly explaining they wanted to funnel all efforts to help into one.
“We of course want various community groups to be a part of the process but we would love to co-ordinate the efforts so that things are accurately streamlined,” Lamothe said.
In the meantime, Lamothe said Montrealers can head over to their Facebook page to co-ordinate efforts meant to help Bukola and her family.