Cost of Looking after Children

I have seen some very good accommodation for unaccompanied children seeking asylum, and I have also seen some dreadful accommodation. I have visited homes with a member from the Refugee Council Children's Panel and felt sad to hear how he had been assured that problems in the accommodation were repaired.


I have seen documentation in the past that indicated that the cost of paying for a child under eighteen to be accommodated in shared housing in an inner city area is generally about ninety pounds each per week, to include heating and lighting. Some of these houses in the same street are rented to students for approximately sixty five pounds per week each.


Today I was going through some papers brought to me by a young person. What I see is a handful of papers indicating that social services have paid a local estate agent £1170.00 for the period of one month. There are twelve of these. For a small house in an inner city area containing three bedrooms, a cost of £14,040.00. A further six documents indicate that on a previous cheaper property the rent was just £693.00 per month. Although these properties include gas, electricity and rent, they also say that they include community charge. My understanding is that children don't pay community charge. This amount is more than the cost of renting the entire place to a student ( I checked today). The documents state which person the rent is payable for. Some of these properties have three and four bedrooms in them.


Thats a lot of money - for what, exactly?

Khartoum

Last year, a Sudanese friend felt he had no other option but to return to Sudan. He had retained the right to work in the UK due to some previous ruling that had never been revoked, and he continued to work, pay rent and bills, and pay all his taxes and national insurance contributions. He also supported other people who had lost their homes, had no money, were lost in the system, and was generally a kind and compassionate man.

There is always one factor over all others that pushes people to forsake hope and return to a country they fear. In this case it was the illness of an aging father.

We tried to work out how we could ensure that he would be safe when he returned home. The strategy was to work with a western backed NGO, and to stay in touch.

Last week I received several emails indicating that suddenly things were very different. Foreign workers were being sent on "holiday". Those who were away were being told not to return. Short wave radios were being issued, and people were being told to ensure supplies of food in their homes, and electricity.

Making enquiries in the UK it became clear that something major was happening. News was breaking over the weekend that the ICC (International Criminal Court) were being approached to issue a warrent for the arrest of President Bashir of Sudan. The ICC are considering whether to charge him with war crimes and constructing the genocide of the people of Darfur. Phoning Sudan several times over the last few says I am trying to stay in touch, and keep an eye on my friend in Sudan.

Sunday the Press reported that "thousands" were demonstrating around the City of Khartoum, parading in support of the Sudanese Presdent. Although it also seems clear that these demonstrators are largely from the employ of the Government, nonetheless there is a concern that demonstrators can become rioters and attack anyone working for a foreign based NGO.

After several months of daily, sometimes several times daily, email correspondance with my friend in Sudan, today there is nothing. His last email to me was that he was going to send something important today. No matter how many times I check my email account, there is nothing. The telephone system in Sudan does not seem to be as efficient today.

Whenever anyone applies to the International office of Migration (IOM) for return to their country of origin, they must sign a waiver before they board the plane. This waiver says that they do not hold the UK Government responsible for anything that happens to them after they return.

But something stirs within me when I know the life that is offered here. The hope, the loss of hope, the fear, destitution, impoverishment of life and of spirit, deterioration of health and mental health. Some people say that they would rather die here in such circumstances than be returned to what they believe will happen to them in their country. Others believe that they cannot cope with the loss of hope that visits them here, and that at least they have an understanding of what will happen to them "back home". This coercion, this deprivation. Maybe the returnee can waive the rights to hold anyone responsible for what happens to them. But we don't have to.

One Mans' Journey through The Asylum Process

Refugee Week has passed (15th - 21st June 2008) and the One Mans' Journey Exhibition was up at the Central Library for the whole month of June.

I had only the slightest idea of what would be involved in putting up the exhibition, and despite the wonderful work of Aurelie, Roy and Megan, who devoted hours to selecting photographs and deciding on the themes, we were still running to keep up with ourselves.

Along the way we had the detention of Amdani Juma, a well respected colleague, translator, HIV worker, floating support worker and so much more besides. All of us held our breath with Amdani's detention (more in another blog article).

Choosing the photographs for the exhibition was a journey in itself. Staying in touch with Hakim in Kurdistan, who had given consent for his own photos to be used, and was the inspiration for the exhibition, we had so many opportunities to reflect on the asylum process.
http://beestonquakers.blogspot.com/2008/06/one-mans-journey.htmlhttp://beestonquakers.blogspot.com/2008/06/one-mans-journey.html
The photographs could have been displayed in so many ways and told so many aspects of the process. However, there was a strong personal impact upon us in the telling of Hakim's Journey. All of us who know Hakim, also know the asylum process very well in our different capacities. All of us became increasingly angry at the disregard shown, at every step of Hakim's Journey, to this gentle man, Hakim.

We reflected upon his decision to return to his country. Those who were with him in the weeks prior to his return, remember the personal pain that he experienced in making his decision. All of us believe that his decision was imposed from pressures outside of himself. He had made a fresh application for asylum, and we were all cautiously hopeful that the evidence produced would be successful, and that he might be reunited with his daughters and wife, here in the UK. We know that his return was not an occasion of great joy, but of what he describes as a "broken heart".

On display at the exhibition we had three short documentaries, but problems with our technology meant that not everyone had a chance to view them. The first, made by Hakim, was of the tedious and noisy work in a vegetable preparation factory. Listening to this tape for more than a few minutes was excruciating. Thinking of a man working in that noisy environment every day was unpleasant. Remembering that he worked there for a month without wages, for a chance to sleep on the floor when he was destitute, was a quick trigger for rage.

The documentary recording the experiences of his housemates, who learnt not only about him, but about asylum in the UK was a poignant and frank insight, as they also learnt more about themselves in relationship. The final documentary, filmed by Aurelie in Kurdistan, was so difficult to watch. As we saw Hakim break down, and trying to conceal his emotions, his wife crying as she reflected upon the loss of their hope for safety. The UK Government says that Kurdistan is safe - see other parts of this blog for explosions in the area this year. Hearing his wife speaking about how she has lost her husband now that he is home, because he has been psychologically affected by the process of asylum, I don't know what to say.

Every time that I watch this I remember that, contrary to all the laws that exist to afford sanctuary to those who fear persecution or danger in their home country, we seem to be slipping into a game of numbers, in which it is not about people given sanctuary, but the numbers of those who are prevented, and all this just to satisfy a tabloid desire.




http://www.sankofafoundation.org.uk/

"UN: Rights Council Fails Victims in Congo"

quoted from latest briefing of the Human Rights Watch. contained in the CRIN April newsletter (CRIN = Children's Rights Information Network) http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16213&flag=event

UN: Rights Council fails victims in Congo [news]

[GENEVA, 27 March 2008] – The UN Human Rights Council’s failure to renew the mandate of the expert for the Democratic Republic of Congo is a betrayal of its responsibilities toward the Congolese people, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.“The Human Rights Council put politics before people by deciding not to renew the expert mandate on the Congo,” said Juliette de Rivero, Geneva advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Downgrading the Council’s work in Congo despite the recent rapes and killings is inexplicable and could have tragic consequences.” The move to discontinue the mandate for an expert on the Democratic Republic of Congo was led by Egypt as coordinator of the African group. The African group has taken the position that human rights experts should only be appointed by the Human Rights Council when the government of the country at issue agrees the situation warrants such attention. This approach rewards non-cooperation with the Council, Human Rights Watch said, and gives States responsible for serious human rights violations a veto over the Council’s ability to fulfill its mandate. Council members must 'show some backbone's the past months, Congo’s President Joseph Kabila had privately indicated his support to diplomats for the renewal of the expert mandate. That pledge was not translated into action, however, and Congolese officials in Geneva lobbied for the mandate to end. Despite initial support for the mandate, European Union Member States agreed to abandon it for a weak compromise that provides for a discussion on the human rights situation in Congo at the Council only in March 2009.
“It’s shocking that States which supported continued work on Congo wouldn’t stand up and be counted,” de Rivero said. “Congo’s people can’t wait another year for the Council and its members to show some backbone.” The Council’s decision flies in the face of the serious human rights violations that continue in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Despite historic elections in 2006, Congo’s human rights situation remains deeply troubling. In the past year alone, hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands of women and girls raped by militia groups and soldiers of the Congolese army. An estimated 30,000 children continue to serve as child soldiers in various armed groups. Abuses continue in eastern Congo, the signing of a ceasefire agreement in Goma on 23 January 2008 raised hopes that the armed conflict would be contained, but tensions have again mounted as details emerged of renewed killing of civilians in the region. These add to the estimated five million civilian deaths throughout the country since 1998, a toll that makes Congo’s conflict more deadly to civilians than any other since World War II. In western Congo, security forces used excessive force to put down at times violent protests by the political-religious group Bundu Dia Kongo, resulting in the deaths of at least 68 people, according to United Nations estimates. Thousands of people have been displaced. Given the gravity of the human rights abuses in Congo, the continuation of the expert mandate should have been a foregone conclusion. In response to the egregious abuses in the eastern parts of Congo, Human Rights Watch has called for an additional special adviser to be appointed to monitor the human rights obligations of the Goma ceasefire agreement and assist the parties in bringing an end to such abuses. “The Human Rights Council should be expanding its work on Congo, not abandoning it,” de Rivero said. “Congo urgently needs independent human rights expertise, which could help to save lives.” Further information
Special Procedures: Human Rights Council approves candidates (26 March 2008)
Global study on the implementation of the UN-led Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, February 2008)
DR Congo: Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict 2007 (June 2007)
CRIN's country page on DR Congo
For more information, contact: Human Rights Watch350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor, New York, NY 10118-3299Tel: + 1 212 216 1837; Fax: + 1 212 736-1300Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org Website: www.hrw.org
Visit: http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=16790

Zimbabwe

As the world watches the elections in Zimbabwe, none watch as closely and with such attention as the Zimbabwean community in the UK. As Zimbabweans await the results, which seem to be taking an interminable amount of time, they also need to know what impact the results will hold for their families and friends still in the country, and fo themselves who continue to distrust a safe return.



It has been such a very difficult time for Zimbabweans. Many have been held in detention as they await the outcome of Court decisions about how safe is Zimbabwe for those who have fled to the UK. Many women held in detention centres have been on hunger strikes towards the end of last year, to draw attention to the desparate situation that they have been in - guilty of no crime, but held in detention centres.



People in Zimbabwe have suffered as the cost of basic goods soar to unaffordable prices. Homes have been demolished as Mugabe made life impossibable for his opponants.



Bloggers for democracy are writing about their feelings as they suffer undue waiting time for the announcement of the winner of the elections.

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/date/2008/04



Others have suffered in the country for daring to ask questions about womens rights to sanitary wear read the Dignity Period Campaign here. http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/407



On Thursday, 3 April 2008 04:39 UK the Foreign Secretary, David Milliband spoke at the Lord Mayor's Easter banquet, at Mansion House in London and said that the "UK will stand with the Zimbabweans".



William Haigh , shadow Foreign Secretary stated: Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said "yars of brutality and repression" in Zimbabwe had turned it into a "political pressure-cooker".
It would take more than Mr Mugabe's departure for the country to recover from years of corruption and economic decline" (BBC News 24 3rd April 2008)



Yet, as we have seen in the case of Burundian citizens seeking asylum in the UK, whoever wins the election in Zimbabwe may cause an immediate impact upon the asylum claims of Zimbabweans witing for news in the UK. Women and men who have been subjected to dreadful acts of cruelty in their country of origin, whose cases for asylum are accepted by the Immigration Courts or the Home Office,without question about authenticity or honesty (so rare) may find themselves sent back to a country that still poses significant threat to their own personal safety.



Dspite William Hagues comments, despite what many might see as plain common sense, a signed peace agreement, a change in Government that is approved of by the West, and people will be returned to their country if they do not have a permanent or temporary right to remain in the UK. Yet attitudes do not change at the same pace as a change in Government. Old regimes still continue to have support. As Mugabe and his supporters hold onto power post election, the pressure on those who have been made destitute as a result of asylum policies in this country, continues to mount.


N.B. this entry was composed on 3 rd April but published on 14 th April - hence it also contains references to the post election wait.

Who's looking after the children?

There are two important reports published last month about children seeking asylum.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/europe/migrants.php

This is a report from the International Herald Tribune and published on the Children's' Rights Information Network http://www.crin.org/. The report is specifically about the treatment of asylum seeking children without their parents (unaccompanied minors) who are waiting in Greece for a chance to come to Europe. The children are primarily from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The report states that there are children as young as 8 years who are homeless and without support, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is quoted as saying that the situation for refugees in Greece is " a humanitarian crisis".

The Greek Office of the UN is asking for urgent help to provide immediately for the needs of 400 children, whose plight came to light when Greek police destroyed an impromptu camp for 3000 refugees. Greece has a very poor record for complying with responsibilities under the Dublin Convention. A year ago, 19th April 2007, an EC Directive,
«Manquement d’État – Directive 2003/9/CE – Politique d’asile – Demandeurs d’asile – Accueil – Normes minimales – Non-transposition dans le délai prescrit»

Dans l’affaire C‑72/06,
was issued which sanctioned Greece with a chunky fine for non provision of services to seekers of asylum and for the country's poor record in the processing of asylum claims.

The Council of Europe's High Commissioner has asked Greece to set up a camp for the children, but Greece has refused saying: " that a camp would become a magnet for ever more migrants".
So even when the Council of Europe sanctions Greece for failures in provision and complying with its statutory obligations, Greece refuses to comply with the legislation which it is a party to (The Dublin Convention ) and refuses to provide for the children, let alone the adults.

The report also states that 900 children who had moved on or escaped from Greece were returned to Greece under the Dublin Convention. The UN is concerned that the children are prey to traffickers. Seekers of asylum who have arrived in the UK recount appalling stories of experiences in Greece. One man told me that he will always be grateful to Greek citizens who left a bag of sandwiches beside him as he slept in a Greek cemetery, however, his experience of the police and the Government was one of disrespect and disregard for his human rights.

If the children make it to the UK

Here in the UK the Children's' Commissioner has published two reports this month, critical of the provision for unaccompanied asylum seeking children when they arrive in the UK.

1. Claiming Asylum At a Screening Unit As An Unaccompanied Child, March 2008 http://www.11million.org.uk/. The Press Release from the Children's' Legal Centre states: the Children's' Commissioner has revealed a number of concerns relating to young asylum seekers who are being denied the level of care and access to health and educational provision as required by The Children Act 1989 and its associated regulations" Evidence seen by the Children's Commissioner revealed:

• some practices which led to some children being removed from the looked after system at the age of 16 years
• lack of assessment of individual needs
• a policy of de accommodation at 16
• children seeking asylum had no knowledge of their rights as children in the UK, nor who they could turn to for support and advice
• children felt isolated
• were not necessarily assigned a social worker
• did not understand the role of the Independent Reviewing Officer
• Had problems accessing health care
• lack of an independent visitor to support them

https://www.childrenscommissioner.org/documents/written%20evidence_de-accommodation%20final_CH_080107_0%201.pdf

//www.childrenslegalcentre.com/Refugee+and+Asylum+Seeking+Children/latestnews/11+Million+Report+March+2008+2.htm

https://www.childrenscommissioner.org/adult/news/news.cfm?id=1964&newsid=141

The Children's' Society published a report in February 2008 : Living On The Edge of Despair

http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/whats_happening/media_office/latest_news/Study_reveals_reality_of_claiming_asylum_in_the_UK_6116_news.html

Here's what the Chair of the Children's' Society has to say about their observations:

"Rt Rev’d Bishop Tim Stevens, Chairman of The Children’s Society said: "This report is a shocking indictment on the way we treat some of the country's most vulnerable children. The Church has witnessed first hand the terrible levels of destitution facing many asylum seeking families who come to Britain to escape persecution and torture. Refugee and asylum-seeking are children first and foremost and should be treated as such. "

Here in Nottingham, we have seen many of the issues highlighted in this report. Issues like these led to a meeting with many organisations ( see first post) concerned with the welfare of children seeking asylum in the UK.

Children as young as 8 or 9 sent to find safety, waiting in Greece where they are not provided for, where the Government of Greece flouts its obligations, prey to traffickers, holding onto the hope that when they arrive at their destination they will be treated with respect and dignity. Reports now published in the UK are confirming Sankofas experience, that many many children will not find that here. They will be re-traumatised in the process. Where are the voices of the local organisations, shouting out that children in the UK will not be treated in this manner "due to shortage of funds", where are the voices of Nottingham??

Good News

So often we hear the anxiety, and fear, of people who are struggling to prove that their fears for their safety are real. Almost all of our clients have been refused discretionary leave to remain, or Humanitarian protection. Each time we meet, clients report that sleeping is becoming harder, fears are becoming intrusive, an overwhelming feeling of despair is becoming more pronounced.

It is good news to hear that some people are granted leave to remain, and granted the opportunity to begin to make a life here, with the security of knowing that the process of asylum is finished.

From Sudan:

In the last few days it is confirmed that the Home Office do not intend to Appeal against the Immigration Tribunals decision to grant B humanitarian protection. B is from Sudan. This is the first time in two years that we have seen B smiling.

From the Democratic Republic of Congo:

There are also congratulations to C , a young woman from DRC, and her young family. She has been given leave to remain under the Legacy Case process. She heard the news just a few days before giving birth.

From Afghanistan:

Congratulations also to the Afghan family granted discretionary leave under the Legacy Case process, thereby lifting the hopelessness that they have been living with for the last few years. Two of the children had done so well in their A level exams two years ago that they were featured in the media for their outstanding success, only to find that they could not take up their University places because of a change in the legislation about access to education. Sitting at home with nothing to do is not the best thing for young students who have devoted themselves to studying towards taking one place at Medical School and the other to study Business and Computing. Now the family hope that the detrimental effects of the last two years will be overcome so that the students can reapply to University with a view to starting in September. Remembering also, that English is not the first language of this family!!

Congratulations to all ten.

Deportations to Iraq

Chartered flight Removal of Kurds to Iraq

The story on BBC tv received air time because of the interim report of the Independent Asylum Commissionhttp://www.independentasylumcommission.org.uk/ published the same day , and also the suspected booking of a charter flight to deport many Kurds to Iraq.

Within Campsfield House in Oxford (an Immigration and Removal Centre), thirty nine men had been given removal directions ( notices that they are to be forceably returned to their country after their applications for asylum had failed). However, these removal directions did not state, as we would usually expect, the date, time, flight number and airport that they would fly from. These removal notices were very different: "you will be removed not less than 72 hours and not more than 14 days from the date of this letter". The date on the letter was 14th March. Yet the removal notice that I saw was not handed to the recipient until the 16th March while he was held in police custody awaiting transport to a detention centre. Many other men in other detention centres had also been given these notices. The National Anti Deportation Coalition http://www.ncadc.org.uk/ were trying to find out how many people were at risk of removal to Iraq and whether there were any legal arguments to prevent this mass deportation taking place.

The evening before removal

I was speaking with several men in Campsfield House the evening before removal. We still couldn't find out when they would be leaving or where from. Many were still trying to get Judicial Review Hearings to prevent their removal whilst they submitted fresh evidence. Some had been in the UK for seven years, and the last time they were in their country it was under occupation from the armed forces of Sadam Hussein. The men were uneasy and very afraid. One man told me that he had telephoned the number on the removal notice and asked Immigration if he was being removed the following day. He was told that there were no removals set for the following day and that it would probably be Saturday. This was either an uninformed statement ( in which case how is it that Immigration dont know what they are doing?) or it was an untruth ( in which case it is a contravention of the law which states that an individual must be told when they will be deported).

The next morning all 4 telephones were switched off. This is always an ominous moment. I con tinued to try calling the numbers throughout the day, and I know that the Anti Deportation Coalition Alliance were trying to find solicitors, and information about flights, throughout the day. Telephoning relatives of the men in the UK, I learnt that no-one had been permitted to know the details of the removal of these men. Even family members were not told. Doesn't the UN Convention grant the right to family life as an inalienable right?

Listed below are some of the news articles on Kurdsat tv for the time of the deportation of these men. Kurdsat tv is an official television channel in Kurdistan Iraq which is sponsored by the leading Political Party in the area (PUK):

• 
  UN and ICRC teams visited Kurdish bombarded areas
  25/3/2008 http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=Kurdistani&Rizbendi=1756

this article refers to a visit to Pishdra (Kurdistan) on the border between Iraq and Iran which was visited by the UN and ICRC after bombing of the area by Iran. The article was dated 25th March 2008 and refers to bombing which took place in mid March.

• Five terrorists linked to al-Qaida arrested in Kirkuk http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=Kurdistani&Rizbendi=1760

dated 26th March 2008 this article discloses the arrest of five alleged al Quaida terrorists, plus what they refer to as a "prominant leader" which the article states came four days after the arrest of another significant al Quaida leader in the City of Kirkuk, which is in Kurdistan, Iraq

• 
  Roadside bomb kill one civilian 22/3/2008

http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=Kurdistani&Rizbendi=1746

again a road side bomb in Kirkuk, Kurdistan Iraq

• 
  The doers of Sulaimani terrorist attack arrested (sic)20/3/2008

http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=Kurdistani&Rizbendi=1743

this was a reference to the suicide bomber who injured 23 and killed 1 at the Sulaimani Palace Hotel where I had sipped tea just 23 days before.

• 
  Iran bombards Kurdistan again 20/3/2008

http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=Kurdistani&Rizbendi=1740

this time the bombing is of Qaladze town

• 
  Explosion kills and wound dozens in Mosul 23/3/2008

http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=Eraqi&Rizbendi=1342

the article states 30 killed and a further 30 wounded.

These are just citations from a couple of days. They don't include the Turkish incursions around the area of Diyabaka last month. This area is considered safe? Really? These news reports disclose military action against or in and around Kurdistan by several neighbouring countries: Iran,Turkey, Iraq (South).

The deportees were to be given $100 each when they got off the plane. Not exactly a great deal to start running with.

Sankofa on BBC local news

BBC



It was a very cold morning when the BBC came to Sankofa looking to report on the vandalism to the project.
The most recent event in the years' catalogue of threats and vandalism, two weekends ago now, was when a group of ten supporters of the project came together to start the final phase of moving out of the space that we had occupied for two and a half years. This was to be the final sorting of recycling, rubbish, and usuable goods to go into storage until we found a new base. A man walked into the space and asked for me by name. He was very aggresive and stood too close to feel safe. After a couple of threatening statements he responded to my requests that he back away. However, in doing so he had challenged all the witnesses to fight him, and had pushed one person so hard that he fell roughly across the room. The assailent then started to leave the office but walked towards someone just coming from our removal van. Everyone was keen to protect this person but very soon the group were being assaulted, pushed, headbutted in broad daylight on a quiet Sunday morning. The police were called but arrived after the assailant had left.

The BBC had been interested in whether the police were acting quickly enough or with a serious intention to find out who was responsible.

On the day of the filmed interview, this was the first opportunity that some of the clients of Sankofa had seen the extent of the damage and the space almost cleared.People became very upset when they saw that the place had been cleared. They were shocked and concerned about where the new office would be. Their concern was pronounced. No-one can understand why Sankofa Foundation has been targetted in this way.

The BBC arrived and began the process of deciding who or what they wanted to film. At first their focus was on the vandalism. As we moved into the room in which the hot water tank had been stolen the floor didnt feel too great.The flooring is MDF and, of course, MDF doesnt do well in damp conditions. The water from the flooding had made the floor very spongy in parts. The television journalist asked me to explain to some of the visitors to Sankofa exactly what damage had been caused over the period since January this year. We had just finished filming this when someone from the Local Authority came and questioned why the BBC were filming in the building. The LA chap seemed bemused - he had come from the Court where procedings had taken place to evict tenants of the squat and the LA seemed to have no idea that the building had been delivering a trauma service from the building for two and a half years. The LA expects squatted premises to be occupied by sterotpical figures that are usually fitting some derrogatory image in their mind. They are not expecting to find an unfunded service to vulnerable people by professional qualified and ethical practitioners.



After the BBC had chatted to the Local Authority the journalist felt that he could not proceed with the original story in case this caused problems for their legal department. As reporters simply report it is difficult to see why this would be a problem, however, it was very clear that the BBC had come up against something that they had not planned for - yet their reasons for coming were partly to do with what had been openly discussed on the Indymedia pages.



Nonetheless there did seem to be some commitment to covering the story, and the story changed shape after I was overheard being questioned about whether I had actually been to Kurdistan this year. Generally I am asked by people from the region who are not sure to trust the rumour of my trip, and when they begin to believe it is true, cannot believe that I made the trip alone.



So the story became neatly put together as a trauma therapist, delivering an unfunded service from a squat which has been subjected to ongoing vandalism, who went to Kurdistan.


It was a very cold day and we were all shivering by the time the filming had finished, and I was surprised and grateful to the people who have used the service at Sankofa, who turned up to share their thoughts.

I didn't see the broadcasts, but was even more surprised when the BBC contacted me mid afternoon the following day to say that someone had come forward to offer us a place to continue the work. This was such a sudden and unexpected turn. The Sankofa Board will be investigating this over the next few days. Just as exciting, someone has come forward to offer the next four months of their time to investigate funding on our behalf.

Proving ones' age

One of the frequent problems at Sankofa, is the number of young people arriving from countries where the children have no means of identification. It is not a problem for us, but it is a problem for the children, because the Local Authority do not have a duty to care for anyone that they believe to be older than eighteen years ( unless they are adults with problems requiring assistance from other departments).



Agents who traffic people around the world invariably advise people not to take their ID with them. There may be many stops along the journey, many places to wait until the next connection. A straight journey from Sudan, for example, by lorry and ship, may take twenty eight days. A straight journey from Iraq or Iran, may take ten days by lorry. However, there are many people who cannot make straight journeys, and they are kept waiting until the time is right for the next part of the journey.



Some children have made the journey from Iraq, Afghanistan or Iran, and got as far as Greece, and there they may have a very difficult time waiting. Children have told me of being kept in rooms in the basement of a house for over a month, crowded in with many other single people or families with small children. Food is scarse, and the travellers are not permitted to leave the room or the house for fear of discovery. Periodically representatives of the agent might arrive with offers of food - never enough, or bottled water. One adolescent described tearfully, how a bag of peaches or tomatoes would be brought to the crowded room, and offered at ten dollars each to whoever still had money, bottled water might be five dollars. people would give all that they had for something to eat, or water to drink. Sometimes I have wondered if part of the waiting is to take all the money that the travellers have left. They have already paid perhaps, twenty thousand dollars to make this journey to safety.



Others don't even have this much of a chance. The threshold for looking after children that arrive in Greece as seekers of asylum is thirteen or fourteen years of age. Greece has been sanctioned recently for not complying with the standards for assessing asylum claims and many people, adults and children, have suffered in Greece. I have met children who have been obliged to sleep in church yards, or prostitute themselves for the price of a sandwich. Men describe the kindness of strangers who place bags of food beside the sleeping seekers of asylum.



The journey is fraught with dangers. I have been called from my office in the evening to meet children who have arrived in the City with nowhere to stay. What can you say? They are advised to contact the duty team at social services, but for whatever reason they often seem to get an answer machine. Looking into the faces of children who have just arrived in the country, they look so tired and disorientated. They do not yet speak my language and they take their cues for who to trust from the people that they do understand.



It can be a difficult process getting these children accepted for care.



Usually someone who may have known a distant relative, or someone else from the village or City, take them in for the night. The next morning, washed and rested a little, they arrive at the office of social services who either accept them or they dont. If the social worker does not accept that the child is aged under eighteen, the child is sent away until they can produce their original ID or passport from their country which can take weeks to arrive - if they have one at all ( although now the age has been lowered and they must show that they are younger than seventeen and a half).



We refer them to a family solicitor or the Refugee Council Childrens Panel. The solcitor writes to Social Services and asks that they conduct a full assessment ( The Merton Compliant test). It is quite often the case that social services do not accept the age even after this assessment. The child goes back to the family solcitor who then aranges a paediatric assessment of the child, which often confirms the childs age after a process of analysis. This report is then returned to social services who must accept the findings of the report before agreeing to accept responsibility for accommodating and supporting the child.



Throughout this process children are without support unless they are befriended by others. This is a process which we would be horrified to hear happening to indigenous British children.



Children from around the world often look considerably older than their peers in the UK or the rest of Europe and America. They do not sit in front of play stations or in their own bedrooms with tv and hi fi, strumming on their own guitars during endless periods of leisure when they are not doing school work or delivering the early papers for pocket money. usually they are obliged to work from the age of four years, often in heavy manual labour. For an example look at the film, Time for Drunken Horses, or Can Turtles Fly by Bahman Gobadi. Children can be working carrying huge boxes of goods on their backs from the earliest age, obliged to walk long distances with a far too heavy load. I have clients who continuously complain of back pain so severe that they refer themselves to A and E in the evenings. This is ongoing back pain throughout their young lives as a result of work too heavy for their developing bodies.



Children at the earliest age are working on the farms, hired out to neighbours to underttake manual work, driving vehicles, up early selling goods in shops and tea houses before going to school, if they ever get to school.

Halabja Memorial Day

The 16th March 2008 is the twentieth anniversary of the chemical bombing of Halabja in Kurdistan Iraq. Many references and photographs can be found across the internet to the catastrophic affects of the bombardment, and the numbers of sudden deaths of at least 5000 men, women and children on that one day. Survivors describe the smell of apples or lemons that filled the air on that day, inviting people to breathe deeply and so not protecting themselves against the chemicals in the air.



Having just come back from two weeks visiting Kurdistan Iraq, I visited the City of Halabja on two occasions: once to visit a family that I knew, and then again to visit as part of a group organised by WADI to visit the Womens' Centre in Halabja and the Free Radio station.



On my first visit, my friends took me to visit the Halabja Centre. Completed only a year ago, it was destroyed by rioting and fire on the day of the opening ceremony. There are many accusations about the destruction of the Centre depending upon who you speak to, but persuasively, the people of Halabja were of one opinion - that the people felt enraged to see the money that was spent on remembering the victims, when the living are still suffering and see no end to their suffering.



Everyone in the City remembers the bombardment of 1988. I visited homes which are still damaged by the bombing twenty years on. I visited the elderly who are living everyday with the grief that they hold in their hearts, for those that they love and have lost that day, or lost slowly and painfully over many days and months with the lingering death of chemical contamination. In 1988, as the bombs dropped, the people moved en masse to the borders of Iran ( perhaps only eight kilometres away) desparate for help. I spoke with survivors who moved amongst the injured with a bag of antidotes, injecting as many as they could through their clothes and into the skin. It was many years before people returned to their homes, and tried to rebuild their lives.



It was in response to this grief that America and Europe opened their purses, sending money to rebuild the homes, hospitals, schools and community. Yet, here I stood, amongst the muddy, uneven roads of Halabja, looking at the homes which largely consist of maybe one or two rooms and an outside flat toilet. The people of Halabja express warmth as they offer all that they have to make this curious visitor welcome. Homes still broken, no sign of the great wealth of the area improving the lives or homes of these people. Everyone wants to open their homes and their hearts to offer bottomless hospitality.



Where is the evidence of the money from the West? Where is the infrastructure that could make lives different and less challenging for these people? Most people do not have access to water in their homes. In this oil rich country, where the very air smells of petrol, I was impressed with how quickly the families turn to kerosin lamps and heaters as the electricity goes off several times a night. Everyone shakes their head with that expression "what can I do?" Everyone laughed when I asked if someone had the job of switching the electricity on and off each night.



Kurdsat television reported on a speech made by mayor of Halabja, Mr. Khidr Karim, "on behalf of Halabja " on November 23 2007 at the World Municipalities' Organization for Peace in Florence.



He is quoted as saying:



“In our city of Halabja more than 5 thousand innocent people were suffocated and burnt with Chemical Gas by the former Iraqi regime. The chemical bombing resulted in wounding thousands of people who still suffer from various kinds of diseases.”



http://www.kurdsat.tv/E_Zyatir.aspx?CoriHewal=EnfaluHelebce&Rizbendi=994



He made no mention of the lack of hospitals, resources for schools, work, services ( electricity and water, sanitation), nor of the arrangements made for surviving casualties of the Anfal to be treated out of the country because even after twenty years they do not have the medical personnel able to treat the survivors, nor the children of the survivors who are also affected.



I can see why the people would be angry. I wanted to photograph the Memorial Centre. The day that I visited with my friends, themselves survivors with a disabled daughter, we were told no photographs. It was not permissable to photograph the damage, or the ruins. Nothing had been done for almost a year, to repair the centre, glass was still dropping from the damaged roof. Everything that had been inside was burnt or destroyed. The centre's cinema was stripped of its seating and the dark walls were still blackened by smoke.



Two days later I am back with an NGO working in the area. This time we are escorted by party officials and an armed guard. I mentioned that I had visited the Memorial but had not been able to take photographs and that I couldnt understand why. Next thing I know I am driven to the Memorial and invited to take all the photographs I want. This time the building is busy with workmen on every wall. Work has begun and I can take photos of this. This seems to be typical of the area. The rules depend upon who you are with or who you know.

who is a "failed asylum seeker?"

A window into the world of asylum has led me to believe that the process itself is a form of torture. When a government can create laws, that its citizens do not protest, it is frightening to observe how many unacceptable things become normal, without most of the population ever being aware. Then the media campaign starts with outrageous tales in an effort to further scapegoat the target group, so making laws that penalise them even more seemingly acceptable.


So in the UK we now have laws which arguably deny people what hithertofore have been inalienable rights. Most recently is the threat to healthcare for "failed asylum seekers". There are exceptions to those who cannot access healthcare - but the exceptions make little sense.


It is interesting to look at the notion of a "failed asylum seeker". The implication is that it is a failure on the part of the individual which thereby seems to discredit their claim to be in need of protection. The logic is that failure to prove is an indication that the seeker of asylum is not truthful.

Yet the legal process which affords the opportunity to explore an asylum application has been nipped and chopped so that it is difficult to see how an applicant to this process can draw breath before the legal process commences. Yet the response could take years.

Last year, when I was speaking with Ali A from Afghanistan, he had been waiting eight years. He had never had a decision from the Home Office, he had only been in Court once - and this was by mistake because the Home Office had confused him with someone else. When he first arrived in the UK his feelings of relief were overshadowed by his fears for what had happened to his family. Seeking asylum was not the joyous, gleeful experience that the media would have us believe on occasions. No it is a process full of heartache, fraught with negative attitudes and distrust, set against a backdrop of memories and fears, anxieties and anguish.

For many years after initial arrival Ali A had the right to work. A University graduate in engineering from his own country, he worked on the factory floor here, learning to speak English alongside his work colleagues, paying tax and national insurance, paying his rent and his bills. New legisation took away his right to work. He was left with isolation, twenty four hour a day television. Without distractions his mind was interrupted by intrusive thoughts, memories and recurring fears arising from his experiences in his country. International telephone cards are expensive and using them can be frustrating. Trying to find missing family by this means at such a distance can be expensive and fruitless. Families separated in the chaotic world of civil violence may spend years trying to find each other.

Ali A had been a large man when he arrived in the UK but his large frame had shrunk to a weight of six stone, his body almost folded in on itself as he began to absorb the negativity of the judgements of the community around him. His hair, once thick, was now almost bald. A young man of twenty five looked fifty or more. He signed to return to Afghanistan. I was concerned for him, as were many others, because his case seemed to have much to verify its truth. He couldnt wait any longer.

"I dont recognise myself any more. Not just in my body, but in my mind. I don't recognise how I think any more. I know that if I stay here like this for any longer, my mind will go. Yes, I think I will not have long to live in my country, but I will have my mind".


Ali A signed for "voluntary return". Other laws in the UK ask us to consider not whether we have consented to an act, but whether we have the capacity to consent to an act. If we deprive people of their right to work, access to education, to healthcare, to housing, to the means to support oneself, to self determination do they still have the capacity to "voluntarily" make decisions which can have an impact on their liklihood of survival?


Ali A returned to Afghanistan. We stayed in contact for about five months - usually he phoned me. Although he had gone to the capital, Kabul , he told me that "the Taliban are everywhere". The last time that we spoke his phone went dead and I havent been able to make contact since.


Only a couple of months after Ali A returned to Afghanistan, the High Court made the decision that Afghans in cases like Ali A's had been deliberately put on hold by the Home Office for reasons set out in the decision (S (Afghan 2007)). If their cases met four criteria it was possible to request indefinate leave to remain. It is likly that Ali A's case fitted this criteria. For Ali it is too late.


N.B. Ali is not his real name but a pseudonym

Out of the chaos: packing up, and remembering

These last few days have been so busy.

Opening the door at Sankofa, seeing what mayhem greats us this time, waiting for the police to arrive. The police took several hours to come, and we spent almost forty minutes waiting on hold to speak to someone at the water boards' emergency call out team to turn off the water. All the time the level of the water was rising in the cellar as water continued to pour from the severed pipes that had previously connected the hot water tank, down the walls and into the cellar. When the police arrived they were lost for words. Well not exactly lost. They expressed some pretty strong feelings of disbelief about the chaos and damage. The police asked to see where the water tank had gone missing from. I pointed out that we couldnt really open the cupboard without getting drenched but he was a thorough police officer and not daunted by my caution. But he closed the cupboard door again pretty quickly as the water just sprayed out as it was falling so fast.

The back door had all the centre panels taken out and this gave those who broke into Sankofa just enough room to move freely in and out of the building, carrying, as they did, the washing machine, a full size cooker, the water tank and various other bits and pieces that they took a shine too. It is astonishing that the tenants in the building behind seemed to hear nothing at all, especially as they have been holding backyard fires all week. I would have thought that they had noticed a washing machine and a water tank going past, especially carried by people who were soaked to the skin quite possibly.

Its interesting that forensic police come the day after the incident. Feeling the need to repair the door each time, we can't wait for the police to arrive the following day. If we had not boarded up the door (again) we didn't feel that we could safeguard the things that remained. Although that seems an interesting point of view because in the circumstances there was no barrier to those who wanted to cause so much damage.

As a result of the theft of the hot water tank, so much water has poured down into the twin chamber cellar below the office that it must be just below the level of the floor. The waiting room/bedding store carpet and the hall carpet are sodden. In an effort to find the water tank, the intruders tore every thing out of the cupboards. I cant really believe that they were looking for the water tank when they pulled out boxes of baby clothes and childrens clothes, when they tossed them all into the centre of the room. A huge pile of damp, wet smelly clothing and bedding. No use to anyone now. At one time we would have tried to wash them and sort them out, but now that the intruders have come back for the washing machine the task is overwhelming.

Tash, documenting a photographic history of the project, has come back to photograph the latest damage http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/03/392793.html



We really dont want to leave this place. It is not about an attachment to the building . It is an attachment to the principle that intimidation and harassment of this sort should not disrupt the delivery of services. Sankofa has co-existed quite lightly in the Community, providing many services for individuals and families. On the one hand providing therapeutic support, on the other hand picking up the cast offs that the students have left behind and making them available to people who are denied the right to earn money, or even to have money.

It is ironic that Sankofa sits between two worlds in this way. yet this is also the nature of Sankofa - remembering the past, looking to the future. The traditional emblem of sankofa is the two headed bird, one looking back, and the other looking forward. Maybe its also an emblem of looking this way, and that.

As friends and service users have come together over the last few days in the office, packing up the extensive collection of language dictionaries that have been useful when we have had no translators, packing up all the research papers and box files, scooping up the toys and putting them into boxes I have reflected on all that has happened over the last two and a half years. It is impossible not to:

• remembering the early days when we first moved in, of getting the room ready in a hurry for meetings in support of young people (see the previous blog entry)
• remembering a young person who came by one day wanting to talk but needing to be useful, and had his first lesson with an electric drill! The memory of his satisfaction looking at the shelf that he put up with such pride.
• remembering all the cups of tea that were made in winters evenings as people came to the door at dusk, wanting a place to sit, and commiserate, reflecting on lives on hold, cases not proven, the demands of locating evidence from countries left long ago
• remembering all the stories that started in crisis - and particularly how several destitute women came together sorting donations of clothes that ended in torrents of laughter as they held up clothing that had lost its shape, or already seen better days and screamed "What have we done to have this inflicted upon us!!" Equally the shrieks of delight as they uncovered some nugget of designer clothing, discarded by someone else without ever having been worn.
• remembering the donations of tv sets, usually from the students. They came into the office one minute and were gone the next, smiles on the faces of people who would have something to do each day now that they had something to watch, taking away the eternal boredom of sitting in a house all day, separated from the rest of the community by flegling language skills, and no right to work, waiting for places on ESOL courses - maybe for a year.
• remembering all the therapeutic toys that were secreted away, not theft, no. A reclaiming of something that brings a significant and familiar memory, especially of donkeys and birds.
• remembering all the mothers and their children, the way that we found ways to talk while the children waded through the toy boxes.
• remembering the gifts that came from so many unexpected places: tree lights at Christmas, an artifical Christmas tree that turned up; the paper chains that were made in the waiting room and decorated around the hall, realizing that this was important to the people who wanted to make christmas special somewhere when they didnt have somewhere of their own.
• the child who stood on a chair in the waiting room, entreating men who couldnt understand her language, to join in with the chorus from a song in her school play, telling them off when they got the words wrong.
• the birthday parties we held for teenagers separated from their families, arriving with their friends, someone would be sent to fetch cakes and make tea.
• the garden fairy who began to create a Sankofa garden from plants found here and there!!
• the therapeutic garden - observing the different ways of being in the garden, the strengths that people found being back amongst the trees ( the therapeutic garden is still taking shape in capable hands, not touched by the destruction of the office)
• all the planning meetings, talk of extending the reach of sankofa, finding ways to include and extend
• the sadness when people were coerced to return to their country of origin, the afternoons and evenings when they thrashed out which was the lesser of worst choices
• the frantic attempts to prevent the removals of Sankofa Clients

So many memories of frantically busy times. referrals are still coming in and we are still talking with whoever will listen to try and find a place to carry on. We still need therapy rooms to meet our current clients, and we are still juggling begging and borrowing. Now we are beginning to regroup and discuss the ways that we are going to move forward, plans forming for bigger premises, perhaps with other community groups. People are ready to lend skills but we still have to find ways to raise the initial money. We have managed without money for so long it is almost bizarre to be considering how much we need to focus on this now.

In many ways I feel quite sad for the people who did this. I have no doubt that we will all find a way to regenerate Sankofa - but we could really use some ideas too!

http://www.sankofafoundation.org.uk/

Crisis at Sankofa

The Sankofa Foundation and impact of vandalism in the immediate short term to the survival of the project

www.sankofafoundation.org.uk

The Sankofa Foundation is a psychotherapeutic service for seekers of asylum and their families, refugees and those granted humanitarian protection. We are based in Nottingham and take referrals from Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and South Yorkshire. In fact, if we have the capacity, we won’t turn anyone away. We are a not for profit service and we do not receive any state or charitable funding. We offer appointments to anyone who is suffering from trauma arising from experiences of torture, imprisonment, violence, witnessing of violence or sexual assault in their country of origin. We also offer support to people suffering from trauma arising from the process of asylum and destitution. Our services are free at the point of delivery and we rely on donations from supporters of The Sankofa Foundation.

History:

Sankofa arose out of another project which was accessed by young people seeking asylum and who were without their families ( Unaccompanied Minors). Due to unexpected funding cuts to the provision of a service to these young people, the decision was made to continue to offer psychotherapy to those young people who were in critical need. Without funding or a base, social services in Nottingham offered a room for meeting with their own referrals. The service continued and was based in the offices of social services over three days a week for over a year. Efforts were made to move towards charitable status. However, when Sankofa became aware that the Local Authority in Nottingham were not complying with the decision in the Hillingdon case 2003, Sankofa needed to relocate in order to support young people to access appropriate guidance and legal advice in pursuit of their rights under the law. Pursuit of charitable status was set aside in order to meet the needs of this very busy time.

Social activists had taken the occupancy of a disused local authority building. Previously, the building, which had been three large Victorian three storey terraces with shared courtyard, had been divided into flats and occupied by tenants of the local authority. However, the buildings had been unused for over eight years, apart from casual use on a regular basis by people with serious drugs habits, and women sex workers. Local residents were upset by what was happening in their neighbourhood and supported the occupation of the buildings by social activists who repaired windows and floors, painted and furnished and set up projects very quickly which benefitted the local area. Within a short amount of time the building, which had been deteriorating fast ( as documented by freelance photographic journalist, Tash) was looking occupied, the gardens were tidied, and the uninspiring back yard was greening up with bath tubs and containers full of herbs and tomatoes, which nasturtiums tumbling out of them in full colour in the summer. A Community Centre was established ( and entered in the Directory of Community Centres), and within the Community Centre, a free shop was opened, inviting donations of useable goods and clothing which were available free to anyone who needed them. A Community lending Library was opened, an internet cafe, a bicycle maintenance workshop, a community arts room with regular activities for children, and a free Community meal once a week for anyone who needed a hot meal ( vegetables donated from local greengrocers).

Into this busy and engaged space, Sankofa was offered a base. Encouraged to approach the Community by Bill Walton of NNRF Destitution Group, our original room was in a disused ground floor flat, and shared with the Community Printworks who had equipment in the kitchen. We had no glass in the windows and only one room was useable due to problems with flooring in an adjacent room. A team worked long into the nights to glaze the windows, fix the flooring and decorate. With furniture obtained through the freecycle network and a computer donated from friends in other counselling services, within a week, Sankofas new therapy room was hosting a meeting which was to have an impact on the provision for unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Nottingham. The Refugee Council (GB) Childrens Panel, the Co-Ordinator of the asylum Project at the Childrens Legal Centre (University of Essex), National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) and 23 young people seeking asylum and in the care of the local authority ( with more popping in and out throughout the day) met to discuss the provision made for them in the area. As a result, The Refugee Council, the Childrens Legal Centre, and a local Family Law Solicitor took instructions from many children to demand the right to clothing allowances, better provision in accommodation, and the instigation of care plans. The co-ordinator of the Childrens Legal Centre (asylum project), now the Policy Advisor to the Childrens ‘ Commissioner on children seeking asylum, who was due to spend only one day in Nottingham, worked late into the night and throughout the next day taking statements from children. A year later the Refugee Council Childrens’ Panel had set up a partnership arrangement with the Sankofa Foundation to provide a monthly surgery in Nottingham for minors seeking asylum who had been unable to access care. Although appointments were by arrangement the surgeries were always oversubscribed. NYAS set up and gained funding for a temporary (nine months) post for a worker to write with young people, a survival guide to Nottingham. This guide was to assist young people gain access to support in Nottingham uip to the age of eighteen years, and for the immediate period after this. The appointee undertook the NYAS training for working with young people and has been able to go on to offer a service at NNRF once a week for young people. The Local Authority has made changed to some of their provision and young people became eligible for ongoing care. Although not all the problems were solved by any means, young people seeking asylum in Nottingham benefitted from being heard constructively, and a message has gone out to young people in Nottingham that they have rights and they can have their rights asserted by agencies in Nottingham.

Sankofa continued with the work of meeting individuals for therapy. However, as a member of both the Person Centred Counsellors and Psychotherapists for Social Change, and Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Change, we acknowledge that therapists regularly hear stories from disadvantaged, alienated and disempowered people within the Community. Sankofa Foundation is committed to, and active in, ongoing debates within therapy about the ground between confidentiality and using our voice to denounce the inequalities within society that contribute to injustice and therefore stress and mental health problems. We take more and more referrals from GPs who are seeing destitute seekers of asylum in their surgeries, whose mental health problems are exacerbated by the lack of care available to people in this situation.

Sankofa became committed to recycling bedding useful to seekers of asylum made destitute. Often bedding would be made available to seekers of asylum who had arrived in the City at the weekend when other offices were closed. Local students in the area annually seemed to be in a hurry to bin all the household goods accumulated during their studies in the City. Annually the area around the Sankofa office became a rich source of items useful to our client group. We obtained a washing machine which allowed destitute clients to wash their clothing and take newer clothing from our store cupboards. Bedding became available in vast amounts, as did cooking equipment and sundry furniture. We were able to support people in makeshift accommodation who had no furniture or bedding.

Many of our clients have been supported to return to solicitors with reports from Sankofa, enhanced by the hours of research that post graduate students have put into assisting people to find evidence in support of their fresh applications for asylum. Sankofa has reached out to organisation in Iraq and Germany for assistance in gathering primary evidence in support of clients, with German NGOs using their contacts within countries to make enquiries on our behalf. We don’t give legal advice but we do walk beside clients in their quest for support in obtaining information and evidence, helping them to learn the skills necessary, encouraging confidence and ultimately doing the research on behalf of those too debilitated by the process of asylum to try. Of clients who have returned to their country of origin, whether voluntarily or assisted(!) we have endeavoured to stay in touch. We speak with clients returned to Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Ethiopian. (We have concerns about the quality of commitment from agencies supporting returns and are gathering evidence in support of our concerns.)

A regular weekly film night was held for young people seeking asylum. Films were selected by the audience from a range of films representative of, or made in, or by film directors from, the countries of origin of the audience. In the afternoon of the show, a group of young people would go shopping for ingredients to create a meal which was shared with the rest of the audience on arrival. As the film was shown, fruit and nuts were shared around the room. At the end of the showing young people would share their memories and their feelings about their country of origin and the life that they have left behind, the people that they miss, and the heartache of their lives in their country. These thoughts and feelings were sensitively listened to and shared with audience members from the host community. With these film nights came new and deeper understandings and bridges between people were built. One of the audience on one occasion was the neice of a Kurdish film director, Karzan Sherabayani. (Within a year we assisted Karzan to show his new documentary about Kirkuk at the Broadway cinema, and to host an event at Robinhood Chase with guests Shano dance Company - a Kurdish dance company in the UK who had previously performed at the Edinburgh festival).

It wasn’t long before the Community Print works relocated to the Sumac Centre and Sankofa was fully using the whole space of the original flat. On occasions when our clients were detained, groups of people would collect to run campaigns to prevent the removal of our clients and to help them to get legal advice. There have been many tense and heart warming moments in the anti deportation activities emanating from the office.

Current Crisis

After two years at the Community Centre we must leave. Many of the original social activists have moved on to other projects and Sankofa has remained, actively responding to the therapeutic needs of the asylum seeking community in Nottingham.

It is with heavy hearts that we are now looking urgently for a place to be. Sankofa has been the target of harassment and violent attacks for a year. With the first attack in the summer of last year, , and this year on five separate occasions within a month. The attacks are so vicious and without restraint that it is not possible to attempt to repair. On each occasion doors have been forced and research papers and folders strewn around, computers damaged and made unusable. Refugees and supporters of Sankofa have worked into the night on each occasion to secure the premises for the next day to ensure that client work was not affected. However, the attacks have gained momentum and we have arrived to see the kitchen door so damaged that only the border of the door remained. We have secured inner doors as well as external doors but finally this week, we have arrived to see the back door destroyed again as well as the internal doors, and, more shockingly, the hot water tank ripped out and water gushing all throughout the office and filling up the cellar with nowhere else for the water to go. All the windows have been smashed, and then smashed again. However, the windows and doors on the old Community Centre (unused) and the art room (unused) have remained untouched.

There has been a growing unease about some of the people who have come to occupy the disused premises at the back. On each occasion the police have been called and they are increasingly shocked. Most recently, this week, the police who attended have expressed their own frustration, acknowledging the positive contribution of Sankofa to the area and to the needs of a client group who are increasingly finding it difficult to have therapeutic and health needs met elsewhere. More recently we have observed a small group of men, regulars who frequent the back of the building at night, kicking at the door, running at the door, but the police have not been able to respond quickly enough to make arrests.

At Sankofa we have never had large funding. Our funding base has been relatively small because many donors respond more readily to the immediate material needs of seekers of asylum, particularly when they become destitute. We are such a shoestring operation that where there have been shortfalls in our income and expenditure (on service bills) we have paid the bills ourselves. Our therapeutic skills are provided without fee or salary. Our psychotherapeutic reports to Tribunal and Immigration hearings are commended for their objectivity and thoroughness. Our vision has always been bigger than our budget and we have attempted to deliver a holistic and responsive service regardless of the lack of funding.

Sankofa has been approached on many occasions to write – chapters on therapy with young people seeking asylum, mental health care of asylum seeking women, and more recently for the Journal of Critical Psychology. There simply isn’t the time, because we are running a service across six days in the week, whilst earning a living elsewhere for part of the day. We have been invited to give opinion and to contribute to committee meetings of the House of Commons, and the House of Lords.

At this moment in time we have nowhere to offer sessions next week. The Sankofa Office is damaged beyond repair. We have a waiting list and we are out of funds. Although conversations are taking place next week with a couple of other organisations in the field for very temporary access to space, we urgently need premises and funds to help us to continue the work that we do. We have destitute clients who are struggling to keep going and the devastation of the Sankofa space has been deeply upsetting and disruptive to them. We are trying to continue with house visits – but these necessarily take and mean that we see less people – and by meeting people at NNRF at the destitution group. We have been in discussion with members of Sudanese and Kurdish organisations for a long time about shared spaces and the future vision will be somewhere that we can work together to create family spaces as well as therapeutic spaces within a social action context.

This is an appeal for funds and/or urgent accommodation. Even temporary accommodation will help us to continue in the short term. We also appeal for people with experience of fundraising to help us to continue the work that we do, and to help us to extend our service to those in need. If you would like to talk to us about any aspect of our work please contact us by email Miriam@sankofafoundation.org.uk or by mobile at 07866 733223 as our lanline is not accessible ion the immediate short term.

Thank you ..

Kindest regards,

Miriam Hollis