REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS IN WEXFORD NEW LIVES, FRESH STARTS, UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITIES
FOR MANY PEOPLE IRELAND HAS BECOME A LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, A PLACE WHERE DREAMS CAN BECOME REALITY. SIMON BOURKE SPEAKS TO SOME OF THOSE TRYING TO FULFIL THOSE DREAMS
THE colour of a person’s skin, the place where you were born, the way you talk, your religion, your culture, your norms. Each contributes to how we are treated within our community, how we are viewed by the people we see every day.
In a normal, functioning society our differences are embraced, met with curiosity rather than ignorance. In a normal, functioning society everyone is treated the same.
It would be churlish to suggest we have reached that point in Wexford. Yet, as events across the Atlantic have shown, we are further down the line than some. Yes, racism exists here, fascism and hatred too, but we’re a nation of emigrants; we know about poverty, about suffering, about the pain of leaving family behind to seek pastures new.
And so, when people come here to make new lives, to escape war, famine and conflict, we try to extend a hand of greeting to them. And, according to those we spoke to for this article, it’s appreciated more than we could ever know.
PATRICK KHAMIS South Sudan
It’s been almost a year since Patrick Khamis has spoken to his wife and two children. He arrived in Rosslare from South Sudan last June, forced to flee a country at war, a conflict which has killed an estimated 400,000 South Sudanese people.
Although he had a job in marketing, a home and a family, it had become too dangerous for Patrick (48) to remain in his homeland.
‘How I ended up here is a long story, there’s a lot of politics involved,’ he says. ‘South Sudan had been at war for 22 years, that war ended in 2005 and afterwards each commander wanted his share of the cake.
‘This led to more conflict and it was no longer safe for me there. It was very complicated, but I had to seek refuge here. My wife, son (21) and daughter (17) are still there. It goes without saying that it’s tough not seeing them. I haven’t spoken to my wife for almost a year now. I have been in touch with my sister though and she has said they are safe and well.’
Patrick’s ultimate goal is to have his family join him in Ireland, to start a new life in a country which he says has been good to him since his arrival.
‘I like it here, Wexford is a nice place, the people are very friendly, there’s been no trouble. I’ve actually been surprised by the generosity of the local community, they’re very good, they meet you and they want to stop for a chat,’ he says.
‘Hopefully my family will be able to come and join me here at some stage. I’m still in the process of having my status here granted, I’m just waiting for the final letter from the ministry. I’m very grateful for all that’s been done for me since I came here.’
Patrick is currently taking the Sanctuary Ambassadors course, a programme sponsored by Wexford Local Development (WLD) which provides training for those living in direct provision, giving them the skills required to aid and assist other refugees or asylum seekers.
‘We always look out for new people who have just arrived, we help them with their induction, their introductions,’ Patrick says.
And this is just one of the programmes he has become involved in since his arrival.
‘There’s a whole lot of opportunities for me here. I’ve been volunteering with Age Action, had IT lessons. I’m hoping to do more volunteering so that I can give back to the people. I’m also getting training to be an addiction counsellor.
‘Once I get my documents I want to get off the welfare system and give something back to society.’
With no cases of Covid-19 at the Rosslare Accommodation Centre thus far, Patrick and his fellow residents have avoided the plight which has befallen some of their compatriots in other centres.
‘We’ve done well with Covid so far, when it first came it shook the world and it shook the centre too. But we have followed the rules, the guidelines, had instructions printed out and put on the walls. The management here have done very well, provided sanitisers, face masks.
‘On an individual level we have been washing our hands constantly, ten times a day. As a group we have adopted a policy that this is a responsibility that must be shared between us, so if someone is going out we take it upon ourselves to make sure they take precautions.’
However, he believes that in order for the direct provision system to continue to work some changes need to be made.
‘The direct provision system is good and they’re doing a good job but I think there should be less people in the centres. At the moment there’s 50,60 people here and I think that’s one of the reasons why local communities are reluctant to have centres in their area.
‘For example, if there were only 30 people in a centre then you might have just one or two people walking down the street together, and it’s not so intimidating for those living locally. But when you have this many people in a centre there’s a chance there’ll be groups of five or ten and people find that harder to deal with.’
ZAKARIA OSMAN Somalia
Zakaria Osman has also been forced to leave his family, a wife and five young children. In his case it was a series of assassination attempts which led to the decision to escape his homeland of Somalia.
‘I arrived in Rosslare in July of last year. I had been working as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mogadishu, as First Secretary to the Somali
embassy in Burundi,’ Zakaria (28) says. ‘Al-Shabaab tried to kill me three times so I had to run.’
Al-Shabaab, is a terrorist, jihadist fundamentalist group based in East Africa and in 2017 it claimed responsibility for a bomb which killed over a thousand people in Mogadishu, among them Zakaria’s brother.
‘My brother was killed in an explosion in the foreign embassy in 2017, he was 32. The aftermath of the attack was massive, more than one thousand people lost their lives and an equal number were injured. I lost some of my closest friends in the attack.
‘Al–Shabaab claimed the attack which is often the case. It is a day I will never ever forget in my life.’
Having finally escaped and found sanctuary in Wexford, Zakaria has begun piecing his life back together. But while he was physically unharmed by the bomb and its aftermath, it has taken its toll on him psychologically.
‘When I came I found it very hard, I was suffering flashbacks, was remembering what had happened to me in Somalia. My GP helped me to relax my mind, but I couldn’t sleep, and when I did I was having nightmares.
‘But for the last five months things have been better. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to Somalia though, there hasn’t been stability there since 1991. My family are still back there, my wife and five children.
‘I have been in touch with them over the internet but it’s very difficult to communicate with them, they are living normally at the moment and are okay. I absolutely hope to bring them to Ireland when I get my status here.’
And when that does happen, when he is allowed to join the workforce, Zakaria hopes to use his experiences to help others.
‘When I am granted the ability to work I hope to be able to support Somalians coming to live here, to work with immigrants. It’s a very tough situation in Somalia at the moment, I am passionate about helping others, and have been helping newcomers settle in the centre.’
‘Already I’m feeling like Ireland is my home, the people here, when you go out, they greet you, tell you you’re welcome to their country. I would like to settle here and start a new life.’
WAEL ZAKKA Syria
When war broke out in Syria in 2011, Wael Zakka had his own his business, a successful high-tech printing company which he had slowly built up over a number of years.
Such was the success of his company that one of his biggest clients was the Syrian government, a contract with the central office providing enough income to support his young family.
However, as the conflict escalated and the death count rose, Wael made a decision which would change the course of his life forever.
‘My work was in hologram, high-tech printing, I had been doing that for a long time, sending items to the government,’ says Wael. ‘But in 2011 I refused to deliver orders to them because of the political situation, I went against them.
‘It was brave but it cost me my career, my life, I don’t regret it though, if given the choice I would do the same thing one thousand times over.’
Wael (42) only arrived in Rosslare last year, his journey taking him from Russia to Italy, France, China and India before he finally found a country willing to help him start over.
‘I’ve been here since June 14 of last year. I left Syria in 2011 and tried to rebuild my life, and went to many countries,’ he says. ‘But you can’t compare those countries to ireland, people here are so nice and humble, they say hello and goodbye, they’re very normal people, unlike some places where integration is very difficult.’
However, his wife and three children remain in Syria, away from Wael, their only communication virtual.
‘I speak to my family through social media, I don’t ever miss a day, they’re doing well, they’re just waiting for the moment they can come here. I hope I can afford to bring them here.
‘I won’t ever be able to go home, of course you cannot but miss it; I grew up there, have memories, famly members. But it’s not possible to go back. Everybody lost somebody and it’s not easy to make people live together under those circumstances.’
A trained lawyer, Wael is hoping to take a Master’s Degree in law once he is granted permission to study. In the meantime he is busying himself with online courses and is also taking the Sanctuary Ambassador course.
And although Covid-19 has presented challenges for those living in the Accommodation Centre, he says their new home should be held up as an example of how to make direct provision work.
‘In the old centre it was horrible, you couldn’t choose your roommate, but here it’s way better, they should make it a model for other centres to learn from; there’s activities, you can work with Age Action, the men’s sheds, you need that, you need something to wake up for.’
KAROLINA SKALINSKA Poland
Karolina Skalinska came to Wexford from Poland 12 years ago, her initial plan to ‘see something new’, improve her English and return home within a year.
Now however, her home is here.
‘Ireland definitely has become home for me,’ she says. ‘My son was born here, he has his friends here, English is his first language, he even has a Wexford accent now.’ Although she attended college in Poland and qualified as an Accounting Technician, Karolina (38) came to Ireland willing to work wherever the opportunities lay.
‘I got a job very quickly after I arrived, within a week, as a night packer in Super Valu. I’ve had a lot of jobs since then, I’ve worked as a cleaner; one job I really enjoyed was in Traco Power Solutions, but that ended when the jobs moved to China,’ she says.
In the meantime she has taken a number of courses with Wexford Local Development (WLD), receiving training in everything from office skills to payroll. And her dream is to one day find work in her chosen field, in the profession she trained for back home.
‘I’m qualified as an Account Technician, but I came here without having had any work experience in that. I would love to find work in that position, but I’ve almost given up for now; I’ve have had so many interviews,’ she says.
The prospect of retraining in Accounting at an Irish college, at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) perhaps, is, for Karolina, a daunting one.
‘I was trying to finish my courses here, but the Polish education system is different to the Irish one. I was thinking of going to WIT but my English is not great, I could try to go there but I’m scared, the level is so high there.’
Ultimately Karolina says she would simply be happy to find work in place where her efforts are appreciated and she can make a telling contribution.
‘I would love to work in a place where I do something I like, the pay doesn’t have to be that great, it’s more important that it’s something I enjoy. I would like to work in a place where people trust me, where I can develop new skils, and do something that would bring me satisfaction and challenge me.’
SABINA* (name changed to protect identity of interviewee), Poland
‘I feel more comfortable here than in Poland,’ says Sabina, who came to Wexford in 2012. ‘I enjoy the community aspect of life here, even if you’re just going to the shop you know you’re going to meet people and stop and talk to them.
‘Now, when I go back to Poland for a holiday and I smile and say hello to people they look at me like something’s wrong. I don’t want to return there to live. When the plane lands in Dublin it feels like I’m coming back home.’
Like many of those who come to Ireland for a fresh start, Sabina arrived with qualifications in tow. She had attended University in Poland, qualified as a librarian, but her first job in Wexford was in a very different kind of environment.
‘I came here on my own but I had friends of friends to help me settle,’ she says. ‘I said I would give myself a month to find a job and if I couldn’t find anything I would return home.
‘I found work in a fish factory, it was the best I could get at the time. It was the worst job ever, so smelly; I would be in the bank or the shop smelling of fish. I lasted a year there.’
After surviving that experience, she moved on to a role with supermarket giant, Aldi, a position she held until 2017. But in the intervening years she realised her true passion lay elsewhere.
‘I am beginning a course in Social Care at Carlow IT, Wexford Campus, starting September (Covid permitting),’ she says. ‘I’m not really sure which area of Social Care I’d like to do, I’m currently looking for volunteering opportunities so I can explore the possibilities.
‘My dream job is the kind of thing where I’m not in an office all day, where I can have contact with people, with those who need help, go and be a part of the community.’
And Sabina says that without Wexford Local Development (WLD) she wouldn’t be in a position to pursue those dreams.
‘They gave me great help, gave me advice on how to make the right choice for me, what courses to take, which direction to go, how to write a proper application, what supports are available for me. I wish I’d found them sooner.’
And the mother-of-two says having children in Ireland and native English speakers in her home, has its benefits.
‘They speak English at home, but they’re still quite young. Sometimes though when I’m talking to my daughter I’m learning phrases from her.’
MY BROTHER WAS KILLED IN AN EXPLOSION IN THE FOREIGN EMBASSY IN 2017. MORE THAN ONE THOUSAND PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES