Teens tell of direct provision ‘prison’
‘AS A refugee I’m always told, “You don’t have a place. We have given you what you need. Be thankful or else go back home. Be quiet”.’
This is how teenager Natasha Maimba describes what it is like to grow up in the direct provision accommodation provided by the Irish Government to refugees waiting for their asylum applications to be processed.
And even though the 18year-old sometimes feels she is ‘super Irish’, she readily admits in a television documentary, that there are times when she does not feel completely at home in her new land.
Due to air on RTÉ on New Year’s Day, the hour-long programme called Leaving Limbo follows Natasha and her best friend Minahil Sarfraz, as they prepare to do their Leaving Cert. The pair met when their families were transferred to a direct provision centre in Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
Three years ago they were appointed Unicef ambassadors to highlight children’s rights.
Since then they have attended UN events in New York and at Wembley Stadium in London. And both of them are now studying at third level.
‘Everyone else is living their lives’
Natasha is studying law at DCU and Minahil got enough points to study podiatric medicine at NUIG.
Natasha and her mother fled Zimbabwe over fears for their safety, and
Natasha lived in direct provision accommodation for five years.
Meanwhile, Minahil, who lived at the direct provision centre in Athlone for 10 years with her two younger sisters and only brother, described it as ‘like being in a prison but having a glimpse of freedom. You can see everyone else living their lives.’ Leaving Limbo, RTÉ One, 6.30pm, New Year’s Day.