Fundraiser seeks to help Andrew Loku’s five children in South Sudan

Before he was killed July 5^[1], Loku, whose Gilbert Ave. apartment was subsidized by the Canadian Mental Health Association, would regularly send funds to his family in his native country.

But now that these money transfers were abruptly cut off, the future of his five children living with their mother, aged 11 to 19, is in jeopardy.

“Andrew would support the children’s schooling, but now in his absence, there is no one actually that can support the kids. No one is going to be able to stand up for these kids. The major concern here is supporting their education and their well-being,” said Senos Timon, Loku’s uncle.

The family turned to crowd-sourcing ^[2] last month to raise the money. But so far, the fundraiser has only reached $10,805 of its $25,000 goal.

Because of the prohibitive price of a flight ticket from South Sudan to Toronto, Loku’s children weren’t able to attend^[3] their father’s Toronto funeral. His uncle and older sister now hope to travel to South Sudan with Loku’s belongings, to bring a sense of closure to the bereaved family.

“We have a tradition, something more known in the African cultural side,” Senos said. “When somebody far away overseas dies, people know that they are already deceased, but in order for them to come to terms with it, his property needs to be taken back home.”

Officers were dispatched to Loku’s home after he reportedly confronted a neighbour with a hammer. An eyewitness told the Star two days after the shooting ^[4] that police opened fire within seconds of arriving on scene.

“As a role model (for his children), Andrew went back to school and graduated from George Brown (College), despite the fact that he was living on limited income,” said Doret Phillips, of Across Boundaries, a community mental health centre that helped organize the fundraiser.

“Education meant so much to him.”