After spending the first 18 years of his life in a refugee camp before escaping to Canada, Omar Rahimi is partnering with a Winnipeg church to get the rest of his family out.

Rahimi didn't have a normal childhood. His mother and father were living on the border of Iran and Iraq before a war between Iran and Iraq forced them and 40,000 Kurds to move. They landed in the middle of the desert on the other side of the country. Rahimi was born in a refugee camp in western Iraq.

His family never left the refugee camp. Rahimi lived there for more than 18 years before someone from Canada came and was able to bring him and his immediate family to Winnipeg. He came from a desert in Iraq to a very cold winter and said that was very difficult.

The problem for Rahimi is that his wife was not able to come to Canada with him. She had to stay behind in Iraq, so Rahimi set about trying to bring her back. But problems arose in 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq. During the commotion, Rahimi lost contact with his wife.

By the time he finally got in contact with her, she and her family had been moved to northern Iraq.

"It was war there and they were living in tents," Rahimi said about his wife's living conditions.

It was now 2006 and Rahimi and his father already had become Canadian citizens, which allowed them to travel back to Iraq. 

"We can't bring all 1,000 [refugees], but we can try to bring two or three families."

When Rahimi went back to see his wife, things didn't go well. Both his father and his wife ended up getting shot by American troops.

"It was very difficult to see your loved ones getting shot," Rahimi said. "[My father] almost died."

Rahimi and his father had to leave and wait until his wife finally got her visa and was able to arrive in Canada in 2009. His in-laws were left behind again, now refugees for 37 straight years.

That's where Winnipeg's Portage Avenue Church comes in.

"We're hoping with the help of Portage Avenue Church, we can sponsor [my wife's family] and bring them here," Rahimi said, talking about his wife's mother, father and two siblings, plus their spouses.

John Wieler is the contact for Rahimi at Portage Avenue Church. Wieler worked with MCC for years, dealing with refugees. He connected with Rahimi while trying to bring someone else to Canada from that refugee camp.

Wieler is concerned for Rahimi's family, because they are not the refugees you hear about. Right now, refugees coming from Syria have been highlighted by the government.

"The one's that are highlighted are immediate refugees and they are sometimes in critical situations," Wieler said, trying not to diminish their situation in any way. "But if you're in a refugee camp for almost 40 years, and there is no plan, that is a very difficult situation.

"Jesus had a few things to say about that, and churches should never back off of that. We can't settle everyone in Canada, so then the solution is to be peacemakers."

"We can't bring all 1,000 [refugees], but we can try to bring two or three families," Rahimi said.

Northern Iraq still has over 1,000 Kurd refugees, most who have been there since the start of the Iraq and Iran war, which was over 35 years ago.