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| Asylum backlog: after 11 years, Rose, 65, still waits for ruling | Asylum backlog: after 11 years, Rose, 65, still waits for ruling |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| It was on 8 January 2002 that, fleeing persecution in her homeland of Zimbabwe, 54-year-old Rose Water landed at Heathrow airport. Alone and unable to speak English, Water had never been so far from home before. | It was on 8 January 2002 that, fleeing persecution in her homeland of Zimbabwe, 54-year-old Rose Water landed at Heathrow airport. Alone and unable to speak English, Water had never been so far from home before. |
| She was terrified but her son had given her his life savings to pay for a lawyer, and the number of a solicitor's practice in London who would fight her case. Water told the first airport official she saw she wanted to apply for asylum. Then she called a lawyer. She assumed it would all be alright. Today Rose Water is 65. Penniless, homeless and forced to rely on weekly food parcels from a charity to eat, Water has been waiting for the UK Border Agency to confirm her status as a refugee for almost 11 years. | She was terrified but her son had given her his life savings to pay for a lawyer, and the number of a solicitor's practice in London who would fight her case. Water told the first airport official she saw she wanted to apply for asylum. Then she called a lawyer. She assumed it would all be alright. Today Rose Water is 65. Penniless, homeless and forced to rely on weekly food parcels from a charity to eat, Water has been waiting for the UK Border Agency to confirm her status as a refugee for almost 11 years. |
| She has a suitcase full of post from the agency. But they are automated letters and all say the same thing: despite the time elapsed, and Water's increasing age and infirmity, she must continue to wait for a decision. In the meantime she cannot work, cannot apply for housing and cannot collect benefits. | She has a suitcase full of post from the agency. But they are automated letters and all say the same thing: despite the time elapsed, and Water's increasing age and infirmity, she must continue to wait for a decision. In the meantime she cannot work, cannot apply for housing and cannot collect benefits. |
| "I just think that to die would be good now," she says. "I came to England to hide my life from the people who wanted to kill me in Zimbabwe. But how can it be that the English people cannot see me? It's not fair to treat an old woman like this. I think they want me to die. | "I just think that to die would be good now," she says. "I came to England to hide my life from the people who wanted to kill me in Zimbabwe. But how can it be that the English people cannot see me? It's not fair to treat an old woman like this. I think they want me to die. |
| "I have been homeless since 2002. Friends let me stay with them for six months here, three months there. I'm very lucky at the moment because a woman has let me live in her flat for a few years – but it's not suitable: I've had two bad falls and two operations on my legs. I can't walk properly but in this flat, the toilet is up a flight of stairs. I can't climb them so I have to use a bucket. It's not right for an old woman. It's not fair." | "I have been homeless since 2002. Friends let me stay with them for six months here, three months there. I'm very lucky at the moment because a woman has let me live in her flat for a few years – but it's not suitable: I've had two bad falls and two operations on my legs. I can't walk properly but in this flat, the toilet is up a flight of stairs. I can't climb them so I have to use a bucket. It's not right for an old woman. It's not fair." |
| Water says the UKBA wrote to her on 7 December 2011, asking for four photos for security checks. She sent them off and has heard nothing since. "I'm helpless. There is no phone number you can call the UKBA on. They've taken down the bit on their website where you could put in your reference number to track your case. I get other people to write to them all the time but it's not clear where you should write to; there's no central address and anyway, you get no response. Even my MP, Margaret Hodge, got no answer when she wrote and asked them to help me." | Water says the UKBA wrote to her on 7 December 2011, asking for four photos for security checks. She sent them off and has heard nothing since. "I'm helpless. There is no phone number you can call the UKBA on. They've taken down the bit on their website where you could put in your reference number to track your case. I get other people to write to them all the time but it's not clear where you should write to; there's no central address and anyway, you get no response. Even my MP, Margaret Hodge, got no answer when she wrote and asked them to help me." |
| She says she can't afford to eat and had to accept handouts from her lawyer, who took her to the Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London. | She says she can't afford to eat and had to accept handouts from her lawyer, who took her to the Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London. |
| "For the past five years, they have given me a box of food every week. The box has pasta, rice, beans, salt, oil, cereal and milk. Sometimes friends give me money to buy bread, and sometimes I can afford a piece of butter or honey. Sometimes, though, I just drink water and sleep. There isn't anything else for me. In 2007, I fell down and had to have an operation on my foot. The forum bought a food parcel to my bedside every week. If they hadn't, I don't know what I would have done. I probably wouldn't have done anything. As I say, I just think that to die now would be good." | "For the past five years, they have given me a box of food every week. The box has pasta, rice, beans, salt, oil, cereal and milk. Sometimes friends give me money to buy bread, and sometimes I can afford a piece of butter or honey. Sometimes, though, I just drink water and sleep. There isn't anything else for me. In 2007, I fell down and had to have an operation on my foot. The forum bought a food parcel to my bedside every week. If they hadn't, I don't know what I would have done. I probably wouldn't have done anything. As I say, I just think that to die now would be good." |
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