Resurfacing of our memories

Rio Domio (Africa)

Applying for protection is like you are pushing a mountain or wall. You try your best, try to explain. Nobody understands you because they have got preconceived ideas like: 'People come here because they just like the country'; 'People come here because they are poor'; 'People come here and take the jobs, just to live a better life'. They don't understand, it is because you have no alternative, you have no power. ... the full story

Kitende (Kenya)

Applying for protection is not easy. The first thing you do is question the need to do it. The need to have to explain yourself so that you are acceptable. I've never had to do that in my life. I believed that I had a right to be somewhere, a right to a place where I could live. I'd never had to beg for space to be accepted. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that I really didn't belong anywhere. I have to ask for permission to just stay while I work out what to do with my life. It's like one morning you wake up and you have nowhere to go, and nobody to turn to, because you don't have a piece of paper which says you can stay. It's a very scary feeling. ... the full story

Omid-Arezo (Iran)

I thought that here in Australia they would understand my situation. The whole world knows what happens to women in my country; they just eat and sleep and live their lives for other people, never for themselves - they have no power over their destiny, they are used by men. I have to stay here. But here I have no enjoyment, I do not have a good life, I don't know where I am. I am between the sky and the ground. I can't believe Australia doesn't care about people anymore. ... the full story

See the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Articles 14, 15