‘I have hope again. Thank God for Tony’
A GOLD Coast veteran surviving on snakes in the Philippines can see “light at the end of the tunnel” thanks to the generosity of Tony Simrajh, father of Gold Coast melanoma campaigner Ashleigh.
Broadbeach local Ryan Hodson, stranded overseas since March after having two flights cancelled because of caps on arrivals into Australia, was starving, broke and frequently fighting off deadly cobras. On top of that, he was eating other types of snakes in his bid to survive.
He was battling posttraumatic stress disorder and close to giving up.
But after seeing Mr Hodson’s plight in the Gold Coast Bulletin, Mr Simrajh contacted the 37-year-old and sent him money.
“He (Tony) is a great guy,” Mr Hodson said.
“Tony helped me with funds to get canned food and rice and it means I had money to get into town and organise a replacement, limited validity passport.
“His help also meant I could also use proper internet for printing forms and scanning identification.
“I also hired a lawyer for proof of true copies and it all got sent on Thursday, express
post to the Australian embassy in Manila. I’m expecting a three-week processing time.”
Mr Hodson said the next step was whether he got deported or waited for the “flight lottery”.
“The main thing is I have hope again. A light at the end of the tunnel. Thank God for Tony.
“It brings me to the brink of tears every time I think of it. I want to thank him so much for caring and I hope we get to meet up one day when I’m back on the Gold Coast.”
Mr Hodson said while he now had renewed vigour, he and other Australians stuck overseas were in a permanent state of “shock, disbelief, rage, sadness and hopelessness” at the government’s inability to get citizens home.
A National Cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday was postponed following technical issues with flying Prime Minister Scott Morrison out of
Cairns; he’s been in Queensland ahead of the state’s election on October 31.
It would have been the first National Cabinet meeting in a month and getting Aussies home was expected to be at the top of the agenda. The meeting will now take place next week.
However, Mr Morrison did on Friday announce an agreement with the NT that would allow 5000 “vulnerable Australians” to arrive into the territory between now and March. Qantas flights will bring citizens home from the UK, India and South Africa.
He said it was also “good news” that as of September 18, one-quarter of the 4000 Australians who the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade identified as vulnerable had returned home.
An estimated 30,000 Australians are thought to be stranded overseas, all waiting to get flights home that keep getting cancelled by airlines because of caps on arrivals into Australia at a state level.
Mr Hodson said he’d been deeply moved by the generosity of strangers, “fellow Aussies who have bothered to care about me”.
“It seems the issue will have to be pushed and shoved grudgingly to get us poor wounded souls back to our homeland,” he said.