buddies

These letters were written to Buddies from within the walls of detention camps. From a father of six children separated from his family for more than two years while he searches for a safer haven for them, to a six year-old girl’s experience of the sorrow and frustration that surrounds her, these letters put a human face on the reality of asylum in Australia.

Names have been deleted to protect the identity of the authors.

Letter to an Angel
A letter from a cardiologist in detention describes tensions in the camp and expresses his gratitude for the letters of support he receives.

A Damaged Heart
A father despairs after more than two years away from his family.

Twelve Hugs
A six-year-old girl’s impressions of life in detention.

A poem

This poem “Asylum” by Mehmet al Assad, was published in The Age, May 16, 2002.

Will you please observe through the wire

I am sewing my feet together

They have walked about as far

as they ever need to go.

Will you further observe

through the wire

I am sewing my heart together

It is now so full of

the ashes of my days

it will not hold any more.

Through the wire

one last time

please observe

I am sewing my lips together.

That which you are denying us

we should never have

had to ask for.

poem

This poem was written by - ‘a prisoner at the Baxter detention centre– no name, he has only a number–’.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS POEM IS A NUMBER

I do not know
what will happen after I die.
I do not want to know.
But I would like the Potter to make a whistle
from the clay of my throat.
May this whistle fall into the hands
of a cheeky and naughty child
and the child to blow hard on the whistle continuously
with the suppressed and silent air of his lungs
and disrupt the sleep
of those who seem dead
to my cries.

Excerpts from recent emails received from Nauru (posted 23.8.05)

Appeal for remaining asylum seekers
Dear refugee supporters,
As we approach the fourth anniversary of the Tampa, and prepare to mobilise this Saturday, let’s spare a thought for the remaining 32 victims of “The Pacific Solution”. Their situation is desperate. They are going out of there minds. Some of them are clearly suffering from mental illness by now, and those who are not are hanging on to sanity by the skin of their teeth.

The last of the women and children are out, and a few extra men are too. But the more people are released, the worse it gets for those who are left. They are overwhelmed by a massive feeling of emptiness in the camp (or a feeling of “death”, some of them call it.) Their cases are still being worked on, but they really need to be released on humanitarian grounds by the Minister, RIGHT NOW, ALL OF THEM!! The Minister has the power to do so, and if anyone ever deserved it these men do. It is an appalling situation, and exemplifies the way The Pacific Solution worked, right from the start. Many people have drawn the Minister’s attention to this, but nothing happens. Nothing has changed since the Rau and Solon cases and the Palmer Report, it seems.

I am including a selection of recent emails I have personally received from Nauru in recent days and weeks, to let the detainees reach you in their own words. These 5 emails come from 4 different men. They are typical of what I get from Nauru these days.

Please write to your parliamentary representative on the eve of this year’s TAMPA commemoration to urge the release of the remaining asylum seekers. Good writing, and see you next Saturday.

Best wishes until then,
Paul McKinnon
Refugee Action Collective

Excerpts from recent emails received from Nauru

Email 1

I want to start this letter with something bothering very much, it is about my life here after these for years .I became very lonely and lifeless I spend my days only sleeping in this camp. I am not like before anymore .I do not live in the days anymore, it is because of the emptiness, there is no people at all ,the place here is like place of dead people, the people here are very little epically in this Tuesday the Afghan who lately excepted will leave us to Australia we will be only 32 people ,I do not know what to do in this loneliness and emptiness which is killing me ,I feel I do not have patient anymore .

Thank you for you to listen to me, I hope you can help me also with Telstra phone away card .so I can call my father, when I call him this will make me comfortable

I truly hope from God to not put anyone in this ugly place.

Thank you, with my best wishes.

Email 2

Thank you very mach for phone cart and your Email

Here in the camp now people tired to mach I go out side the camp 2 clock, sometime I go to the beach ,I sit there ,It is better than setting in the camp some time I go set with my friend and play with hem play station in the camp until 10 clock or 12 clock night time because here cannot talk with any one, sometime I think the mind of the remaining people here in the camp is not normal , I think very tired you know why, because 4 years in the one place and we here look for the same faces all the time for example I see here people more than I see my family in the Iraq we are too much boring from this routine long time eat and sleep same like animal in the Zoo maybe in the End I go crazy or kill myself I hope you understand me after 67 day I go full 4 years

With my love

Email 3

Hi, how are you? I hope you are very well.

Thanks for you email and for the telephone card. Now a day I am a bit worried or I don’t know what is wrong with me. Espacailly at night I can’t sleep but I don’t want to go to doctor because they gonna give me tablets and I know it has a lot of site effects. That’s why it seems very bad to me and here the doctors are not good enough to treat us I think they just come for paractice and nothing else.

Best regards

Email 4

With the compliment hope that you are having good health and enjoy life
I am sorry I did not write to you along time because I did not go to internet.
Center for along time really I am suffering very much that is why did not write
You .please if hear any thing like news about me write to me let me know I am
Still waiting for new life .bye for now and looking for ward to hear from you next time

My warmest regard

Email 5

hi friend

how are you? i hope you are well.

we have been for along time on nauru. since 2001 until now we are just to leave people because we are 1100 people were here first all of them had left just we are still 32 people.
i do not know how i explain to you my situation if i tell may you will crying. that is you know about nauru we can not even contact with our famaily.
we are need your help to explain to australian governmnt to free us from nauru. we are very tired also we wil be creasy because we lost every thing. by for now and looking forward to hear from you.
your friend from nauru

Please call for all asylum seekers on Nauru to be released before the Tampa anniversary on 26 August.

Contact Minister Vanstone, the Prime Minister and your local MPs.
Contact details for MPs can be found at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone contact details:
Parliament House
Senator the Hon Amanda Vanstone
Suite MF 40
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Telephone: (02) 6277 7860
Fax: (02) 6273 4144

Email via website: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/contact/index.htm

Electorate Office:
81 Flinders Street
Adelaide SA 5000
Tel: (08) 8223 1757
Fax: (08) 8223 1750
Toll free: 1800 018 282
(Toll free number is only available South Australia)

Prime Minister contact details:
Parliament House
The Hon John Howard MP
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6277 7700
Fax: (02) 6273 4100
Email via website: http://www.pm.gov.au/email.cfm

Electorate Office:
Location:
230 Victoria Road
Gladesville NSW 2111

Postal Address:
PO Box 336
Gladesville NSW 2111
Tel: (02) 9816 1300
Fax: (02) 9816 1349

Letter from Lombok, Nov 2005

To Whom it may concern

We are a group of Iraqi people, who are seeking asylum in Australia.

We are living in,Lombok,an Indonesian island under the protection of the IOM Organization and under a temporary protection of the United Nations in Indonesia. We are victims of Saddam`s regime. it was during the time in which we experienced all kinds of violance,including killing and more of things that the mind could not imagine. Over all of that our human rights have been violated in our own country, which led us to leave our homes in Iraq to neighbouring countries to escape Saddam`s criminal leadership.

Despite the bad treatment everywhere we go, we have not given up on finding a safe country to take us under its wings and start a new life far from the pain we have been through. While moving from country to country, the pain and suffering kept following us.

After that the fate led us to the hands of heartless smugglers and others to play with our lives with no mercy. They put us on a small and weak boat towards Australia. Unfortunately, after seven days sailing, fate threw us in the hands of Australian Navy. The Navy sent us away to one of the Indonesian island in order to present Jhon Howard`s Government in a good picture without any problems, during the election period.

In Indonesia, we moved from island to island till we settled in the Indonesian island Lombok.

The United Nations opened the first Immigrant case to take in a big number of refugees. After 10 months, the United Nations opened a second case to accept some Iraqis as refugees and make some countries like Australia, Canad, and New Zealand their permanent homes. Later on, these cases closed forever before Saddam`s Government collapsed on November 12,2002. These cases have been closed with no solution to ensure for us living in a safe country neither as migrants nor as refugees. They did not even try to consult any other country to take us under their protection for the sake of our children and women.

It has been knon that the UNHCR Authorities have opened Iranian and Afghani refugees` cases three times in a row; they have accepted the Iranians and some of Afghani refugees, but none of the Iraqi refugees who they appealed to the UNHCR twice.

Internationally, it has been known that the situation in Iraq is going from bad to worse. Iraq,also,is not considered a safe country in all cases but what about us who have been victims of Saddam`s regime. victims in Indonesia by UNHCR and later IOM Organization. There is no desire or hope that we could return to Iraq because it is a full of terrorism and front line point in fighting Terrorism, Islamic and none Islamic Terrorist organization are kidnapping and murdering Iraqis and stranded their families. It is not safe anymore for families, so you can imagine what could happen to the people who are seeking refugee status and are further persecuted because they are considere traitosrs.

Although hope is what keeps us patient, it has been 4 years in these islands, in which we have all knocked on the UNHCR and the IOM Organization. After 4 years of staying in Lombok, the response was full of false promises. In this Islands our kids have not been cared for their future and not having the proper education and lifestyle. Our miserable situation related to the IOM Organization not even providing us with the appropriate food; place to live and no medical care for our families.

Now we are praying to God that you will be able to help us in any way possible in presenting our case to the appropriate Australian Authorities. This will assist us in finding a solution that would give us peace of mind and the appropriate life for our families.

Yours truly,
Iraqi asylum seekers Lombok Island, Indonesia.