After an almost four-year fight, a 10-year-old girl stuck in South Africa whose mother died has won the right to apply for permanent residency in Canada on compassionate grounds.
Ryleigh Ridland’s great-aunt has spent four years fighting to adopt her great-niece and bring her to Canada — ever since she was discovered struggling to survive on a remote South African farm property — all alone near her mother’s body for about a week.
LIsa Pyne-Mercier, 53, who lives in Shawnigan Lake, about a 45-minute drive north of Victoria, still can’t believe she could be bringing home her adopted child by spring.
“Is this real? Is this real?” she keeps
