These last couple of weeks have been pretty hard simply because every day seems to bring more news from one or other of my students of issues that have arisen because of their status.
One really lucky guy has been given leave to remain. I'll be honest, I don't know why his case was more deserving than any other but at least he is out of the loop. Or not. He was given notice of his leave to remain and mere days later he was informed that he was evicted from his home as he was no longer being supported by NASS (the support agency for asylum seekers) and would have to find his own home and his own support. Fair enough really, he ought to do as any of us would if we lost our job and find his own place and money. But most of us get at least a month's notice; he got a few days. He has missed so many classes now because he is trying to reassemble the pieces of his life. Although, to his credit, he handles it all with a smile.
He's lucky. Another student has been summoned to the Home Office with instructions to bring all his belongings; surely a sign that he is about to be detained and deported. Last week several people were deported back to Iraq and Afghanistan, the safest of all countries to be in right now. They didn't know they were going to be deported - they were just taken from the Home Office when they went to their weekly signing. My student now has this doubt cast over him and has to live with the fear until he finds out on Monday. And it is by no means a foregone conclusion that he will go: time and time again people are called into the Home Office with the same instruction to bring their belongings and they return a couple of hours later with no change to their circumstances. It just seems like a sick joke; a need to keep them in suspense, to keep torturing them.
A further student, an older lady who recently spent some time in hospital having an operation on her foot, found last week that she had lost her bus pass. She needed it particularly on that day as she had to submit some new evidence to her solicitor to make a case against the Home Office as they recently evicted her and left her destitute. With no bus pass and no cash she had no choice but to walk, despite her recent operation, for two hours to finally get to her solicitor with five minutes to spare. She has since missed classes whilst she recovers from the damage she did to her foot. She is recovering where she sleeps on her friend's floor.
I can't write anymore. There are so many other stories just this week alone. They all feature the same fear, the same physical and mental suffering, the same needless torture. They are just people. They don't deserve this. I can't hear any more stories as I don't think I have the capacity to hear about so many people in so much pain. Quite selfishly now, I just want it to stop. It shouldn't be this way.
