KENYAN PASTOR ROSALIND WANYEKI FACES DEPORTATION FROM CANADA

Rosalind Wanyeki, also known as Rev. Hadassah, is a Kenyan pastor who moved to Canada in 2020, fleeing religious persecution from a powerful church leader in Nairobi. She has been serving as the senior pastor of Prayer Reign International Church in Toronto, where she ministers to a large community of Kenyan immigrants.
Her pastoral work, combined with over 20 years of ministry experience, has made her known for offering spiritual, emotional, and social support to hundreds in the diaspora. Alongside her two young daughters, Wanyeki now faces deportation from Canada this August following the denial of her asylum and residency applications.
“I have a deportation for August 7th, and I am appealing to the public to sign the petition and help stop the deportation,” she publicly shared on August 4 2025.
In addition to her pastoral duties, Wanyeki is an author, having authored the devotional guide ‘Wait on God, I Say Wait on God’, used to encourage and sustain congregants in spiritual perseverance.
Earlier in the year 2025, the family was scheduled to be deported from Canada after their application for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds was denied.
The Canadian government deferred the order to allow Wanyeki’s children to finish the academic year in Scarborough’s West Hill Public School, where they were learning. On August 3 2025, Rosalind Wanyeki reported to an emergency service that she had been scheduled for deportation on August 2025, despite her appeal against the application.
“I’ve served the community for those five years (here in Canada) and I pray to be safe, I have tried to reach for help from my MP. I’m getting opposition. I’m getting responses that cannot help me right now, and I need help,” Wanyeki told CTV News Toronto.
In response to her plight, members of Toronto’s Kenyan and East African faith communities held an emergency prayer service and press conference at the Royal Chapel in North York.
A Change.org petition has also been launched in a bid to halt the deportation, garnering support from both Kenyans and Canadians.