The Refugee Series: Part 1
The other night I spent several hours chatting with 4 refugees. 3 are Afghanistani, 1 is from Eritrea (sort of part of Sudan but not). I would like to tell you about some of the interesting things I remember that these 4 very nice, gentle men told me about their life experiences.
Chaman had spent 3 years in a refugee detention centre, enduring 45 degree Celsius days, awaiting the approval of his refugee status. He fled Afghanistan because of the Taliban, who were enforcing a very strict form of Islam. He had been beaten up for not following Taliban law. He also knew that he was going to be very soon called up to fight for the Taliban. So he sold his shop and used the money to pay someone to smuggle him across the border into Pakistan. He had never even heard of Australia at this stage. The only white people Chaman knew of in the world were Americans.
When Chaman got to Pakistan he was introduced to another people smuggler. Through a long process of going from country to country, he eventually paid a people smuggler who took him and others on a boat to Australia. He spent a month and a half on this rickety boat, fearing being eaten by sharks.
Upon arrival in Australia we put Chaman in detention because he hadn’t heard about the offshore refugee processing (the queue everyone talks about) when he was back in Afghanistan. Surprisingly, the Taliban hadn’t publicised it very widely and so he had had to use “illegal” people smuggling. I resisted telling him how immoral I thought it that he didn’t use the queue.
While he was in detention the Government tried to convince him to go back to Afghanistan. They told Chaman that the Taliban had been ousted and that the war was over. He had heard enough from other sources to suggest to him that this was not the case: although the Coalition has gained control of Kabul, the capital, the war continues outside of Kabul. The Taliban are still able to enforce their version of Islamic law, and are still perpetrating violence against anyone who doesn’t conform to their strict Islamic law. Still the Australian Government insisted that the war was over. So Chaman asked the Government to guarantee that if he went back nothing would happen to him. Ummmm...errrr...well no we can’t do that. Why not? Well...errrr....here’s $2000 we’ll give you if you want to go back. But why can’t you guarantee my safety? Look over there, 2 grand!
But Chaman had already spent 4 and a half grand getting to Australia and was not about to be paid 2 grand to go back and die. Funny that. These Afghanis are so ungrateful.
Chaman was a very nice person but still seemed shaken. His body language suggested he was still a little insecure and he was withdrawn from the social situations of the night. When I asked him about his time in the detention centre he started to shake a bit and was quite visibly uncomfortable. He also told me that apart from the problems the Taliban created for him that he had a pretty good life back in Afghanistan but that he much preferred Australia. Chaman has started work here and is determined to make a go of it in Australia.