A CHARITY which helps the most desperate asylum seekers has made an urgent appeal for more volunteers.
A CHARITY which helps the most desperate asylum seekers has made an urgent appeal for more volunteers.
Dawn raid forced me to flee home with my twinsA FEW weeks before Christmas, officials carried out a dawn raid on the Glasgow home of Ugandan woman Mary Semirimu and her three-year-old twins. Having dashed to a neighbour's flat as the Home Office squad arrived, Mary and the children, Michelle and Michael, escaped being taken to Dungavel. As her neighbours fought to keep her and her family safe the officers sealed their house with a steel door - to stop them retrieving any of their clothes or toys. Mary, 32 appealed the rejection of her asylum status - but found herself homeless despite having two young children. For three months the family were forced to sleep on the couches of friends and neighbours. Neighbours in Kingsway clubbed together to buy Christmas presents and groceries for Mary and the children while Positive Action In Housing gave them £350. In February, she and the children were allowed to move into another flat in the Kingsway area while awaiting news. Just a few weeks ago Mary, who first arrived in Glasgow three years ago, learned she had won her appeal. This means she and the twins will now be able to stay on in Scotland indefinitely. It's thought as many as 25% of Scotland's failed asylum seekers win their cases on appeal. Yet due to Home Office policy their housing and benefit rights are removed after the first decision is issued. |
Over a 12-month period Positive Action In Housing spent almost £10,000, funding emergency accommodation for failed asylum seekers with nowhere else to turn.
Most of the money goes on hostel rooms although there are several Glasgow hostels who refuse to accept the families.
In Glasgow an increasing number of families and individuals are being told they have no legal entitlement to food, shelter or a roof over their heads.
Hundreds of failed asylum seekers end up on the streets with all benefits and state protection withdrawn. Some only survive thanks to the generosity of Glasgow residents.
More volunteers who can offer a room in their home - even for a week at a time - are desperately needed by the charity - as are cash donations which help pay for essentials like food and toiletries.
The charity's head of policy David Reilly said today: "It's impossible to put a figure on how much extra money or people we need. We could never have too many donations or too many volunteers.
"The Glasgow people who have supported us are an inspiration. But at the moment we rely on a core group of about 10 to 15 people who are prepared to share their homes."
David points out that many people in Glasgow do not realise the difficulties faced by people whose asylum claims are rejected.
Ordered to return home by the UK Government, many are sent back to volatile communities in Pakistan or Iraq where they fear torture or murder.
It's thought many people are also in the dark about the Home Office's policy of stripping failed asylum seekers of benefits and housing rights.
David said: "The Government makes people destitute to force them to give up and return to their country of origin."
Positive Action In Housing stepped into help the 228 people forced into destitution between March 2006 and March 2007.
The charity desperately needs more supporters to make regular donations. Visit www.paih.org or call Positive Action In Housing on 0141 353 2220.
