A refugee’s story

Ali had already found a new job and Sakina was just starting school. I remember well him driving me down to look at the beautiful Hamilton Gardens. We walked around there for over an hour while his wife prepared lunch at home (like most Afghani families, they were keen to offer me a meal while I was visiting).

He talked about what they were hoping to do once they were fully settled and how hopeful he was that his brother Sajjed would also be able to join them soon from Nauru, as Sajjad had looked after Sakina during those two long years in detention on the isolated island, and she was missing him. It was good to hear confirmation shortly after I returned that Sajjed also received a refugee visa to New Zealand.

After more than four years of separation, having fled the Taliban, endured great danger, prolonged detention in Nauru (or seven months detention in Australian in Ali’s case) and the fear of being returned, finally the family were reunited with permanent residency in a safe and welcoming country.

As I wrote when I returned home, “the Sarwari family still have problems to deal with and difficulties to confront but they can now do so from a position of control over their lives and their options for the future. The others on Nauru deserve no less. They have suffered enough, it is time to let some joy back into their lives.”

Tonight I received a phone call with the news that Ali had been killed in a car crash near Auckland. The story is mentioned in this morning’s(January 18, 2006) Age newspaper.

Sometimes you just have to wonder about this world.

ADDENDUM:
This Obituary was published in the Sydney Morning Herald in February.