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Seeking asylum

Written by Peter Tobin

Thursday, 22 July 2010

Last month, a small protest took place at the Kinsale Road Direct Provision Centre. Parents of children living there were pointing out that, due to the timing of breakfast and city buses, they were being forced to choose between sending their children to school late or hungry.

This problem highlighted the fact there are many issues facing residents of the centre and here some of them share their stories. While this account may appear one-sided, queries from the Cork Independent to the centre itself were redirected to the HSE, whose spokesperson said that, despite operating community welfare services in the centre, it was ultimately the responsibility of the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice did not respond to our questions.

Ola's story

Forced to decide between raising her children in an environment where she had already lost her first daughter and leaving behind everything she knew and starting a new life in a country thousands of miles away, Olawunmi Oloyede put the future of her kids first.

"My first child died from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)," she says, "and when a scan from the hospital showed that another child I was expecting was a girl, I knew I had to leave."

Ola explains that her husband's family practised FGM, something she wasn't aware of until after they were married, and that in Nigeria the husband's side of the family has total control.

"In my country not only the husband, but any member of the husband's family have total power over the children. In effect, they own them. I had to get away and with help from friends I managed to get out of Nigeria."

Ola's husband is still in Nigeria and she has been raising her two children, one boy and one girl, alone for the last five years in Ireland. She lives in the Kinsale Road Direct Provision Centre along with many others but constantly faces the fear of deportation.

"On 28 April last, they came," she says. "It was early, maybe six in the morning and they came for me and my two children. We were on the road to Dublin to be sent back to Nigeria when my lawyer managed to get an injunction against the deportation order. We're still here but I don't know what the future holds."

Living with this hanging over her and her children's heads has not dampened Ola's attempts to engage with and be active in her community. She volunteers in Cois Tine, an organisation in Cork City that works with asylum seekers, as well as volunteering with Nasc, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre and she is also a founder member and Chairperson of the Cork African Women's Group. Ola hopes that any decision on her application for asylum in Ireland will take into account what she has done over the past five years in the country.

"I haven't done anything wrong here, I haven't done anything against this country or the people here. Since I arrived I have tried to engage with the community and work to help other people. I love Ireland and Irish people and I'm here, not to hinder the country but to have my future here and raise my children in a safe place."

Ola is also concerned about raising her children in the Kinsale Road centre. Her son, aged six in a few months and her daughter, aged five and born in Ireland go to school everyday and come home to the centre in the afternoons. "It's the only life I know and I worry about that," she says. "They live here and they don't see people going to work or living normally and they get a bad impression.

I think it encourages people to be lazy and I think that will be bad for Ireland in the future. I've also noticed that they speak differently when they are at school and when they are in the centre. They have Cork accents when they talk to their teacher I've heard but in the centre, they speak like the people here. They see it as two completely separate communities."

Ola faces an uncertain future and accepts that she has absolutely no power. "All I can do is beg for mercy from the government, mercy for me and my children. Five years is not a small length of time and I want to say to those in charge, please, for God's sake, grant me leave to remain in this country."

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