How long does it take to rejoin the flow of life? We are anxious to get on with our lives

Kitende (Kenya)

This is like a sentence. You are waiting on something which you have no say in, you have no rights as such to question the process. The rules have been mapped out to make it difficult for you to claim any status, instead of something which is there to assist you. It's frustrating and scary; you don't know what to do, you don't want to make a mistake, you don't want to offend the powers that be. You have to go out there and say that you are innocent of a crime that you never committed in the first place. You are not doing this by choice. This is about human beings who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in a powerless situation. ... the full story

Aaron (China)

It took 13 months for my application to be accepted by Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, but now it can take any amount of time. It's my observation that if you can survive the fear, uncertainty, lack of recognition, and rejection from the department and other parts of society, you must be very strong, but even if you survive you still suffer some permanent damage. I think most people can handle around six months of waiting. After 12 months, people have obvious depression, and after two years, most people suffer permanent depression and damage to their mental well-being. ... the full story

Ramona and her mother Brenda (Sri Lanka)

Waiting for our case to be decided has been the most nervous, depressingò perhaps even more depressing than what we were facing back home - because this is where your life is decided. When we were rejected by the Refugee Review Tribunal we couldn't believe it. We wanted to hide ourselves, we wouldn't go out, we just brought our mattresses into the lounge room and all slept there -we didn't cook or eat properly for a week. It wasn't so much hiding it was just something that we couldn't face. ... the full story