More than 7.2 million people are living in protracted refugee situations (defined as being longer than five years away from home) around the world, waiting for some hope of getting away from insecurity and persecution. Yves Zihalirwa is one of the lucky ones to have found a home away from the camps.

Yves Zihalirwa could not find the right word to describe how he sometimes feels when he eats or feels full. So instead he says that it is like choking. He also can’t bear to put expired food in the bin. His mind returns inexorably to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, which he left behind in March 2009 and where close relatives remain.

He refers to it as ‘that miserable place’. Food rations are provided every two weeks. These would last for three days, leaving refugees to ride out the pangs of hunger until they could collect food again. Local gangs prey on them at night, often extorting money or favours at gunpoint. There are no opportunities to work and therefore no honest means to purchase necessities. What amounts to schooling is a dirt floor where hundreds of people sit to receive instruction.

‘You were just without hope’, says Yves. ‘You could not see where your life was heading. You could not be sure whether tomorrow, you would still be alive.’

The refugee camp thus became an extension of the difficulties that Yves and his family had already faced. He is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a tangled web of conflict has claimed more lives than World War II. His parents were killed by Hutu rebels – his father’s tribe, Mushi, was seen to be aligned with the Tutsis. His grandfather, a Tutsi from Rwanda and considered a foreigner, was also killed. His sisters and sister-in-law were raped and killed, their house burnt down with their bodies.

After narrowly evading capture many times, he finally fled to Nairobi on the back of a goods truck. He was taken from there to Kakuma, where he joined thousands of other refugees from Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. He was only seventeen years old.

He languished there for nine years before he heard about ‘Moses’. It was an email address circulating amongst friends, which could be used to contact Sanctuary Foundation Australia. It is an organisation that sponsors many refugees through the 202 subclass humanitarian visa.

Refugees on this visa are not provided the means to travel to their new country, so Sanctuary provides interest-free airfare loans which, as they are slowly repaid, are ‘recycled’ to assist more people to leave the camps.

Yves took a shot and found a way to relay his story to the organisation. By the time he and his wife, Eduige, boarded the plane for Melbourne, ten years had passed since he fled eastern Congo. The birth of their first child, two months after settling in the Victorian town of Wodonga, reinforced their sense of a new life.

Still, they have had to adjust. It was a steep learning curve having to use banks and public transport, as well as look for work and study. Yves credits Sanctuary for easing the transition. ‘It would be difficult to survive without them’, he says.

He has also received support from his community at Sacred Heart Parish in Wodonga, where he serves as a special minister. Through the parish, he has helped set up an organisation (www.odasov.org.au) to raise financial support for people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

‘I look forward to the future, for me and my family’, he shares. ‘Everything I plan to do, I feel like I can achieve it.

To support Sanctuary Foundation Australia’s life-saving work, go to www.sanctuaryaustraliafoundation.org.au or telephone (02) 6652 2127.

Catholic organisations supporting asylum seekers

Jesuit Refugee Service
www.jrs.org.au
An international organisation with a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. In Australia, JRS provides pastoral care for asylum seekers in remote detention centres, as well as supporting asylum seekers in the community with accommodation, financial assistance, English classes, work and personal accompaniment.

Edmund Rice Centre
www.erc.org.au
Asylum seeker advocacy and support is one of the four major areas of focus. As well as providing material support for asylum seekers and refugees, there is a focus on advocacy and sharing resources.

Mercy Works
www.mercy.org.au
The Sisters of Mercy have worked with refugees and asylum seekers overseas and in Australia. Local work includes Classroom Connect, which recruits, trains and supports volunteers to welcome refugee students.

Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project
www.brigidineasp.org.au
Provides accommodation, support and settlement services to refugees who have been long term detained or to asylum seekers with health and special needs.

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