September/October 2008

Editorial

As we meet for our September meeting to celebrate what refugees and people seeking asylum have done since they have been here, there is a demonstration planned in London in support of the Church Action on Poverty campaign: Still Human Still Here.

This aims to highlight the plight of tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers who are being forced into abject poverty in an attempt to drive them out of the country. Supporters believe that the denial of any means of subsistence to these people as a matter of government policy is both inhumane and ineffective.

They are calling on the government to:

* end the threat and use of destitution as a tool of government policy

* continue financial support and accommodation to refused asylum seekers as provided during the asylum process and grant permission to work until such time as they have left the UK or have been granted leave to remain, and

* continue to provide full access to health care and education throughout the same period.

The demonstration takes place in Parliament Square from September 29 to 12 October when the two campaigners will exist on one food parcel each per week. They want to listen to the stories of people claiming asylum here, they will be praying at 0800, 1200, and 1900 each day and invite others to join them, and they hope to be talking to the Home Secretary and other MPs and Cabinet members who wish to hear of Asylum Seeker issues. We may not be able to go to London but at least we could pray.

Chris Dove


Note: the views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily coincide with those of the Commission











The Poet

Enriching our Communities – a celebration of what refugees have brought to us

Rowena Somerville runs an arts project with refugees and people seeking asylum based at Tees Valley Arts. This is an edited version of what she has to say about one of the poets with whom she has worked, Syndou Diarrassouba.

"Syndou came to this country from Liberia two years ago, and was dispersed to Teesside. When I first met him he was a clearly traumatised young man who had been attending English classes and learning to read and write - he had never been to school. He spoke English in Liberia, but with a Mandingo dialect; he knew it wasn't 'proper' English and wanted to improve it.

Although unlettered and uneducated, Syndou clearly has an innately poetic and visionary soul; his conversation is full of statements like ‘A good writer can make my imagination, a great writer can make my belief ‘ - wise and thoughtful and unexpected. He will talk quite naturally of ‘the line of colours in your soul', 'reaching into a nebulous heart', 'cold sadness creeping towards the heat of anger.'

Initially Syndou wrote as therapy, attempting to purge his lonely soul of his many terrible memories... now he writes more as communication, with greater purpose and control. Syndou feels he has met with excellent treatment and kindness in the UK, he thinks Middlesbrough is heaven - not a common view - but he is also aware of his predicament as an asylum seeker.

Syndou is studying car mechanics at a local college where he gained the award for Student of the Year last year.”


“His current situation is that the Home Office has ruled that since he has made such good progress in the UK, there is no reason for him not to return to Liberia. He says that if he returns he will die. Liberia is in a chaotic state with little or no access to education and health care, Syndou's home area has been destroyed by years of civil

war, and his immediate family are all dead.

Syndou is a person who has 'crossed the horizon between hopelessness and hope'; how cruel if we have helped him come so far only to break his spirit again."


The Doctor

Dr Elizabeth Gordon reflects on 20 years work as a Medical Foundation doctor.

Working with torture victims is very similar to working with any other client group but it also means trying to understand the sort of violence that survivors have been subjected to; the displacement from their homes, from society, sometimes long periods of imprisonment and then having to flee for their lives. I think it's something that is not generally understood by people who have not experienced exile. Many if not all the people I see would prefer to live in a normal situation in their country of origin; they would rather be at home.


Yet people can adapt and survive. I remember a boy of about 16, who'd been in prison in Africa and dreadfully burned with paraffin soaked rags. Most of his family had been killed in a raid. We worked with him at the MF, we put him in touch with plastic surgeon colleagues and now he's built a new life as an accountant in the UK.

I recently heard from a young doctor from the Middle East whom I first saw when he was held in a prison ship here in the UK. He is now a consultant radiologist; that's a real achievement.


Given the current world situation, in which torture and organised violence are sadly commonplace, and in which Western governments are approving modes of torture to day, the Medical Foundation will be needed for a long time yet.

For many of us at the Medical Foundation our work is fuelled by a sense of injustice; working with survivors is a way of trying to restore justice, it's a way of fighting back.

Source: The Supporter Summer 2008


The Refugee

Sergey is a doctor from Armenia, 47 years old, a married man with two children aged 10 and 12. He had to escape because he had, by chance, witnessed the murder of a politician. With the help of friends, Sergey managed to escape hidden in a truck, sending his wife and children to stay with relatives. Some time later they managed to get to Italy where she works as a cleaner.

Sergey reached England after nine days and assumed he would finally be safe. He was refused asylum and became homeless. While sleeping rough, Sergey had contracted Hepatitis C. He got no treatment, the disease led to cirrhosis of the liver. Sergey will be dead within 2 years. A transplant could save his life, but he doesn't qualify for one because of his asylum status. Eventually he was given a room in a shared house by the National Asylum Support Service [NASS] and was seen by a doctor who told him he should eat three meals a day,with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Sergey has to do this on £35 of vouchers each week. These have to be spent in one supermarket and that supermarket is not allowed to give him any change. He is not allowed to earn any more money.

Sergey could be saving people's lives. He wants to work. He is an innocent man who has committed no offence.

Source: The Supporter Summer 2008


The Government

Under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention everyone has the right to apply for asylum.

If they have a justified fear of persecution then the host country is obliged to protect them. No country has ever withdrawn from the convention but the British government and its officials attempt to define its obligations as narrowly as possible. This is what the Home Office wrote to an Algerian woman:

"You claim that you were ill-treated during detention, tortured and raped. The Secretary of State does not condone any violations of human rights which may have been committed by members of the security forces...[but].

.

to bring yourself within the UN Convention, you would have to show that these incidents were not simply random acts of individuals, but were a sustained pattern or campaign of persecution directed at you by the authorities."

So our government is telling this woman that they don't care if she has been raped, tortured or imprisoned. It will only help her if she can prove that it was done repeatedly and according to some plan.

Source: Mark Haddon. The Observer Magazine 15 June 2008.


The Deportee

Anselme is from Cameroon where he was elected by his tribe to be their chief on the death of his father. But Anselme is a committed Christian and refused to take his father's wives, as is the custom of the tribe. He was tortured by the tribal elders and escaped to this country where he has lived in Middlesbrough for the past two years, becoming a respected member of his church. The validity of his claims to have been tortured was accepted by the Home Office after a report from the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture, but it was decided that he could be returned to Cameroon to live in some other part of the country although Amnesty International stated that he would not be safe.

He was to be deported on 14 July on Kenya Airways flight KQ101 at 20.00 hours.

Large numbers of people signed a letter protesting at this, emails, faxes and phone calls were sent to the Home Office and Kenya Airways, but he was taken to Heathrow and forced onto the plane protesting loudly. His hand was badly injured in the process and eventually passengers joined in his protest and the airline refused to take him. He was taken back to the detention centre and in transit he was beaten up by the five men who had taken him. They are reported to get paid a considerable bonus provided they get the deportee out of the country.

Anselme was refused treatment for his injuries but his lawyer arranged for a Medical Justice doctor to see him. Then on 25 July he was released pending a hearing of his case before the European Court of Justice. He is now back with his friends. He wrote that he is very grateful for the support he has received and says he continues to put his trust in God.



The Red-Top Reader

Asylum seekers – oh, I know all about them. I read about them all the time in the paper. Scum of the earth, that’s what they are. They’ve got no right to be here, and as far as I’m concerned, the quicker they go back to the jungle or wherever they come from, the better. They come here because they’ve heard we’re a soft option, and what do they do when they arrive? They take our houses and our jobs, they get every kind of benefit they can scrounge, they jump the queue when it comes to treatment on the National Health. It’s God’s honest truth; I read it in the paper.

Half of them are criminals of one sort or another, and you can bet your life some of them are terrorists, hell-bent on destroying us. And in any case, if you forget about all that, if you want to be a bleeding-heart liberal softie and welcome the stranger and all that rubbish, just think about our country. Britain is - or was – a great country, but it’s only small and it’s crowded already. Even if some of these people are genuinely in need, it’s no use coming here, there’s just no space for them. And we don’t want their kids in our schools. I wouldn’t want my Johnny sitting next to a dirty little foreigner that didn’t even speak our language. Well, would you wish that on your kids? I tell you, it’s just not fair.

Source: Anon. [as usual]


Commission contacts

Barbara Hungin Chair 01642 784398

KateWard Secretary 01642 781676

Nan Saeki Treasurer 01904 783621

Chris Dove Editor 01947 825043

email: dove.whitby@phonecoop.coop

or 22 Blackburns Yard Whitby YO22 4DS

website www.middlesbroughjp.org


Please ….

if you find this newsletter of some use to you or your church, perhaps you would consider sending a donation to the Treasurer: Nan Saeki 55 Moorgate York YO24 4HP. It would be very much appreciated.


NB

John Blatchford has been doing great things with our website – please check it out and let us have your opinion on it.



The Befriender

The plight of people seeking asylum can often be very bleak, and so we are always on the lookout for ways to offset the bleakness and loneliness of everyday life in a strange culture.

Kath Sainsbury, Mary Frankland and I try to take a group to Barmoor twice a year. It’s so difficult to raise the money we need for the trips, but so rewarding. For them to be able to relax in a lovely house far away on the moors, and not to be worried about immigration officials coming to pick them up is worth a fortune. The looks on the children’s faces when they see the size of the house is a sight for sore eyes! One of the children said to me, in a voice full of wonder, “Does the king live here?”

We also enjoy each others company at social events when the drums begin to throb and the dancing and laughter starts. Often we gather at each others homes to celebrate birthdays – or just to celebrate each other. Recently we met at Cath Ramos’ house to celebrate Hussain’s 21st birthday (he said it was the first time he’d had a cake!) also to congratulate Jean-Michel on his son’s getting into university in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and to show our relief and happiness that Anselme is out of detention and Ballo is back on Teesside among his friends.

I am always impressed by the joy and love of life that is displayed by these lovely people who have such tragic backgrounds. Our lives have been enriched by the music, laughter and friendship which they have brought with them from all over the world. In bringing their culture to us they have increased our enjoyment of life and liturgy. I personally owe them a debt of gratitude for their friendship and support.

Last year we had a trip around Whitby harbour in a boat –four mums and their seven children and me. What a ride that was! The joyful reaction of the children added to the pleasure for all the other passengers too. So we all had twice as much fun for our money!

Since we started going to Barmoor we have been made so welcome by the people of the local Anglican church. Alistair, the vicar, invites us to sing and drum at Mass. He and his wife, Denise, have opened their home and garden to us and prepared a delicious barbeque for us. Jane Pool on the first day we met her invited us to her home for coffee – all seventeen of us! It’s now a regular thing.

The people of Kirbymoorside Catholic church always give us a great welcome and our children join in their children’s liturgy.

The joy of sharing love is gradually seeping across the North York Moors, who knows where it will go next? Win Logan

[For those who don’t know it, Barmoor is a large Quaker family house just outside Hutton-le-Hole, now owned by a Trust, used by many groups including the Commission]


MINSTREL MAN

Because my mouth

Is wide with laughter

And my throat

Is deep with song,

You do not think

I suffer after

I have had my pain

So long?


Because my mouth

Is wide with laughter,

You do not hear

My inner cry?

Because my feet

Are gay with dancing,

You do not know

I die?

Langston Hughes 1902-1967

African American poet


OLD CELTIC RUNE OF HOSPITALITY

I SAW A STRANGER YESTREEN,

I PUT FOOD IN THE EATING PLACE,

DRINK IN THE DRINKING PLACE,

MUSIC IN THE LISTENING PLACE,

AND, WITH THE SACRED NAME OF THE TRIUNE,

HE BLESSED ME AND MY HOUSE,

MY CATTLE AND MY DEAR ONES.

AND THE LARK SAID IN HER SONG:

‘OFTEN, OFTEN, OFTEN,

GOES THE CHRIST IN THE STRANGER’S GUISE.’