Stuck in limbo
The Red Cross is urging the Government to restart the refugee quota programme on humanitarian grounds. But it’s not as simple as pressing ‘go’. With more than 150 border closures around the world, the immediate future for those seeking refuge from war and persecution is perilous.
Closing our borders to combat Covid-19 saved lives. But it’s also left scores of refugees stranded in limbo, some in horrendous conditions, waiting to start their new lives in Aotearoa. Huda Al Hammoud Al Hassoun weeps. She’s grateful to be safely in New Zealand as part of the last intake of refugees before our resettlement programme went into hiatus in March. But she has been separated from three of her grown children and a mother’s bond is strong.
Huda, her husband Ahmad and their two younger children Duha, 11, and Mohannad, 15, come from Al Bab, 40km northeast of Aleppo. As civil war raged,
Huda and Ahmed sent their two eldest sons to Lebanon to escape conscription. They were at risk of being recruited by either side of the conflict – the Government and the rebels – who forced young men to join their ranks. Throughout 2012 the rest of the family moved around Syria while heavy fighting was taking place in Al Bab.
Seven years ago they fled across the border to Lebanon to join their sons. An older daughter remains in Syria, where she is currently safe with her own family. In Lebanon, they eked out a meagre existence amid persecution and poverty while they waited for resettlement.
Healthcare was difficult to access and if they did manage to see a doctor it was prohibitively expensive. Police harassment was routine.
Syrian workers are paid a quarter of a Lebanese wage, says Ahmad through an interpreter at his home in Wellington where the family have now settled. Syrian families struggle to put food on the table for their children.
Ahmad, an upholsterer, found intermittent work as a gardener, but they were always worried they would not be able to provide even necessities for their children. In 2018, they were accepted for resettlement in New Zealand. Their older sons had to apply for resettlement separately and remain, for the time being, in Lebanon.
On January 16, 2020, they arrived in Auckland but their six-week stay at the Ma¯ ngere Refugee Resettlement Centre turned into a long four months as Covid-19 forced a lockdown.
Their first few months had been carefree. Families socialised at the centre’s cafe´ every day, children played in the playground.
When they went into lockdown on March 25, families had to eat in their homes. They were allowed an hour outside to exercise each day.
“But we felt we were going through it with the rest of the country,” says Ahmad.
“We were very relieved to be here in New Zealand. We followed Jacinda [Ardern]’s daily updates with the help of translators. We were really glad to be in a country where the leader genuinely cared about her people and informed them every day about what was happening.
“We are glad we did not have to experience this in Lebanon where social distancing would be very hard.
“Syrians would be the first to lose their jobs so it would be even harder to feed our children. Just getting a test there would cost US$3000.’’
They worry about their grown-up children and their six grandchildren on the other side of the world. They reassure them and friends who are in the pipeline to come to New Zealand, having been
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