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Voices of refugees: Teresa from Sudan
Teresa is a 60 year old Sudanese Christian woman who fled her country in 2000 and sought asylum in the UK. Since then she has been given ILR (indefinite leave to remain) in the UK. We were introduced to each other in May 2003 under the refugee mentoring scheme for which I had received training. We meet about twice a month. The role of the mentor is to befriend, to support and to empower. That means to enable the person to take her life in her own hands through putting her in contact with the support she or he needs to achieve her objectives. This might be through advising about statutory rights, referring her for legal advice or to organisations that deal with the particular areas of need.
I came to this country because my life was in danger. I am a Christian and in Southern Sudan the Islamic government fears us because we teach people their rights. I had founded a small community organisation to offer education and skills training for displaced women. The government agents were suspicious of me, they threatened me, burnt my house and the school we used. I was imprisoned for several days and beaten. Then, I was interviewed on Sudan TV and they told me to remove the cross I was wearing and to cover my head. I refused. Later I was warned to leave the country because my life was in danger.
An NGO gave me the fare to come to England and on arrival at Heathrow I applied for asylum. I asked at the airport but I was told to go to Croydon. There they fingerprinted me and questioned me. I was helped by RETAS a refugee organisation. But when I asked the officials to give me written evidence that I had applied they told me "we don't do that". I felt suspicious.
Two weeks later I got a letter telling me that my application was refused because I had not applied in time. The refugee legal centre helped me to appeal. I was put in an asylum house in Tottenham with four other women. I had my own room and we shared the bathroom and kitchen. Three of the women were really nice and we made a good group. The fourth was very violent and often drunk and in the end she went and so life got more peaceful. We were now two Christian and two Muslim women and we got on well. I helped them because I knew English and I was learning my rights.
I lived there two years. It was hard. The voucher system didn't work well for me. We got £35 a week and £10 for travel. The vouchers were 3 of £10 and one five. But we could only go to Sainsburys and Tescos and they are very expensive. We could have got things cheaper in the market and we could have got things we could eat, like cassava, that were not in Tescos. Also, Sainsburys would not give you change. So you lost a lot of the value of your voucher.
I tried to make the best of things. I joined the Sudan Womens' Association and helped with English but I could not earn because asylum seekers are not allowed to. I also did some occasional interpreting from Arabic for the asylum team in Islington and I helped children with their homework. Meanwhile my papers were lost at the Home Office. I was very depressed and in despair. Eventually the Catholic parish in Hitchin helped me through the MP.
In May 2003 I got involved in the mentoring scheme and met Mary. Then I was called to the hearing of my case but the solicitor did not help at all, he arrived late and did not tell me to bring my passport so when she said "how can you prove you are from Sudan" I couldn't. I cried because I had my passport at home and could have brought it with me if he had told me. I think that solicitors in private practice want the cases to fail because then they can get more money from the appeal. It is better to go to legal centres.
Then my indefinite leave to remain came through. I cried, it was such a relief. I had got depressed and had lost any motivation to help myself. Now I had a future.
I was told that I would move from the asylum house into permanent accommodation. But first because there was no accommodation, I was moved to a homeless hostel. It was horrible. There were fights and drunkenness every night. One night someone was stabbed so I ran to the Housing Aid and I said I could not stay there because it was dangerous. I went back to the asylum house.
On 28th. July I got my flat. Still my money had not come through because the Home Office did not tell the Benefits Agency. I got a lot of help now and Mary and I worked together. I got a community care grant. I was cooking on a charcoal fire in the garden when the community care person came - he was so shocked, I got a cooker that week! Then, curtains, carpets, crockery. You helped me a lot.
Now I want to help others. Together we wrote many letters offering my experience and skills. CAFOD was the most helpful. They were interested in me and now I am being trained as a volunteer educator to go into schools and parishes. I have had four training days and I am learning Power Point to make my presentations. It is very interesting and I am very happy.
I am also starting a community development group called Refugee Women Training and Development programme. Today, Mary and I have worked on the application form for voluntary charity status so that we can apply for funding. The Refugee Council are helping us too. It is for Women Refugees from Sudan to help them get on with their lives.
Now I am feeling more confident and more integrated. My flat is good and I am happy. I am happy I met you and that you are a nun because that made me feel safe and there is a bond between us as Catholics. Now I want to be a mentor for other women. Kiltun from Somalia
Kiltun is from Somalia. She and her husband came to Britain as asylum seekers six years ago, and now live in Plaistow. I first knew her when she was learning English as a complete beginner. Because beginners can only learn the basic things, and I only teach them for a year, I often wonder what happens to past students. They move on, we lose touch, and I can only hope that they don’t get deported, and that things go well for them here.
I met Kiltun again last week when she joined my pre-intermediate class at a different venue. She is now a British citizen, and is very settled with a good level of spoken English. I love meeting them again at this level, as now we can have a proper conversation for the first time, and I can discover how it was for them years ago when they first came.
When I asked her if she has ever been back home she said sadly that she would love to go but… as well as the expense, she cannot bear the thought of having to return to England, leaving her family behind, knowing how poor they are. Their friends speak: One of the hardest challenges, but the most rewarding
My experience as a befriender for Leeds Asylum Seekers network is one of the hardest challenges I have faced as a volunteer, but also the most rewarding.
The whole situation of how the Home office is dealing currently with the issue of Asylum Seekers and how our national press often portrays it fills me with anger, frustration, feeling of shame and confusion. Fortunately, over the last two years I have been able to come face to face with a number of asylum seekers as they make their way through the system.
The first family I visited was from Cameroon, (French speaking). I visited the mother and baby daughter for a period of six months and then they were moved to another part of Leeds as their request to remain had been granted. The next mother was from Angola, Portuguese speaking, so communication was minimal. She had two tiny children, one born over here, the father disappeared as soon as the baby was born. She then tried to commit suicide, and the social services came to the rescue and supported her so that the children did not have to be taken from her.
Now I am visiting a Yemeni family (Arabic speaking), father, mother, Ruan, born in September and Riham who is 18months old. Both parents speak English. She was an English teacher in her country and he ran a transport firm. She is a very good cook and invited me to a meal before Ramadan, we sat on the floor and ate with our hands. The food was delicious, she has offered to cook something for our community when we have a party. I introduced her to Sure Start with a programme for mothers and toddlers. Her husband is out all day at college studying English, and accountancy, so she is very lonely and has her hands full with the two children. If she were at home, she would have her mother and aunts to help her. This week they had to go, all four of them, to Liverpool, leaving at 6a.m. returning at 8p.m. just to have their fingerprints taken. I asked them if they had been able to tell their story, Faisal, the father, said “No, that will be next time". So they have to do whatever they are told, whatever the cost, seemingly, to us, without reason.
They have taught me a great deal about graciousness, hospitality and acceptance of trial and suffering, but it is hard to get to know these splendid people and then suddenly they are whisked away to somewhere else and I lose contact. It is much worse if they are refused asylum. . Perhaps my main role is to put the women in contact with other asylum seekers who speak their languages, living in the area. "I was a stranger and you made me welcome………"
Working with refugees and asylum seekers is perhaps not the most popular thing to be doing in Britain today but my life has certainly been enriched by the experience of doing just that during the last three years. As colleagues, fellow volunteers and as clients, I have enjoyed the companionship and friendship of people from a variety of countries who are all at some stage of the asylum process and who bring a commitment and enthusiasm to life at Refugee Council which adds enormously to the richness of my working day.
The tabloid press would have us believe that we are being flooded with asylum-seekers who come to take advantage of all sorts of state benefits and are responsible for depriving others of those benefits. The reality on the ground is somewhat different. The UK, the fourth richest economy in the world, accepts approximately 2 - 3 % of the world's refugees. In addition, since last year, asylum-seekers have been forbidden to work.
My role with the Refuge Council involves supporting the front-line staff who see asylum-seekers and refugees at our offices. We run a drop-in centre to try to deal with many of the practical problems which they face or we signpost them to other agencies who may be better equipped to deal with some of those issues; such as needing to see a solicitor or to go to immigration to claim asylum. With the help of interpreters, some of whom are our own volunteers, clients can complete application forms for Home Office support, receive food parcels, clothing, children's clothes and toiletries and basic items of furniture. There is very good co-operation with other organisations in the city who offer a range of help such as access to health advice or voluntary returns programmes or help with tracing relatives in their country of origin. The majority of people we see are from Iraq, Iran, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Somalia or the Democratic Republic of Congo, but people from many other countries also come.
My work is to collate statistical reports on the work being done, to process invoices, order stock, help to keep the client database up to date and DIY! Occasionally I have been asked to drive the minibus or help a client out with my rusty French. I regularly take the train to London to attend meetings in either Vauxhall or Brixton concerned with either statistics or finance. I love the job because I enjoy using my skills in matters financial, statistical or practical, but above all because of the people we try to serve. Refugees, whom I count amongst my work colleagues, have helped me to look at reality from a broader perspective, to gain some insight into the enormous problems they have faced and to learn from them patience, courage and hope in the way they try to overcome these obstacles. I thank God for so many of the things I could have been tempted to take for granted such as freedom from tyranny or persecution or violence. The True Story of Asylum Seekers and Refugees
There is so much media hype about asylum-seekers and refugees that I thought I would send you some true facts. Forgive me if you know this already.
A few basic facts
Asylum seekers are people who have fled their home country and seek refuge in another one. In Britain when a person has lodged an asylum claim with the immigration and nationality Directorate at the Home Office and is waiting for a decision, s/he is called an ‘asylum seeker’.
Refugees according to the UN are persons, who, “owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or particular opinion, are outside the country of their nationality” and fear to return to it.
In Britain a refugee is a person whose application for asylum has been accepted by the Home Office.
Asylum Seekers, if they apply for asylum at the port of entry on their arrival, are dispersed to different parts of England and given basic support in housing and finance. They are not allowed to work. The money they are given by the Government (NASS) is 70% of Income Support – which is 70% of what the Government considers the minimum amount a person can live on. This is because the Government considers that their cases will be completed within 6 months. In actual fact many asylum seekers have had to wait years before their cases are heard.
If asylum seekers do not apply for asylum at their port of entry or within reasonable time - and no one says what this is - they receive no help and are left to fend for themselves on the streets. This is under Section 55 of the Asylum Bill. There is now a growing number of asylum seekers without any support either because they come under Section 55, or because they have been refused asylum and lost their appeal. Sometimes these are removed back to their own country, or, as in the case of Somalia and Congo (RDC), where it is considered not safe to return them, they are left here without any financial support.
The Government is going to allow all those families who arrived before Oct 5th 2000 to have full refugee status. This is good news, and many are waiting expectantly to begin their lives again. However there is going to be even more stringent legislation for the other asylum seekers..
In the Refugee and Migrant Project where I work as a volunteer we see many refugees and asylum seekers each day. They come to us for emotional support, for help in finding a good solicitor, for help with filling in forms, finding schools for the children, finding a doctor etc.
We give food only to those to who have no other means of support, and occasionally we can give a little money. But we do not have much, as we are reliant on donations; we also have to be careful, as the Government does not deem them to be destitute if they are receiving any help from any one at all.
There is an interesting book just published you might like to read.
Asylum Voices – Experiences of people seeking asylum in the UK
Edited by Dr Andrew Bradstock and Rev Arlington Trotman.
Published by Churches together in Britain and Ireland.
Inter-Church House
35-41 Lower Marsh
London SE1 7SA
Price: £6.95 Links |
