A visit to the African Refugee Development Center by Rachel Pope
This just in from our regular correspondent Rachel Pope, a medical student at the Medical School for International Health-Rhona
Photo from the African Refugee Development Center
This weekend, I saw another facet of the world that I knew existed, but had not yet really seen for myself. This morning I took a train with a few other classmates to Tel Aviv to volunteer with the African Refugee Development Center in conjunction with Physicians for Human Rights at a refugee shelter. In the last year alone, Israel has seen a tremendous influx of refugees and asylum seekers; on the order of several thousand individuals not necessarily intending to make their way here, but people fleeing their homes because of civil strife, persecution, and war (see here for more information). Thousands have made their way towards the middle east from the Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Eritrea, only to be harshly unwelcomed in Egypt, and finally granted some sort of temporary existence in the Holy Land. The Israeli government has recently granted refuge to approximately 500 refugees from Sudan, a country that does not even recognize the existence of the state of Israel, but fears that granting more people residency, will only encourage thousands of more to pour in-a substantiated worry. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees also seems unable to quickly ameliorate the situation. These men, women, and children, therefore, are caught in limbo, unable to work, unable to settle, and unable to predict what challenges they may have to face next.
We were invited to come to one of the shelters to help with a new project: creating a membership card for those currently living in the shelter. In Israel, a place that focuses heavily on security, an average person can be asked to show identification anywhere, especially in official facilities. In the case of medical clinics, identification or insurance cards usually include numbers and therefore, make information storable and transferable. If a person does not have a photo-ID, or a number to give for such a system, they are likely denied services. For example, if an individual goes to the emergency room needing treatment, but does not have any sort of identification, he or she could possibly be turned away, especially if there are language and cultural barriers inhibiting communication and understanding. As pre-clinical students, we knew our medical ability was limited, but decided that we were capable of collecting names and basic medical history, assigning numbers, and taking photographs to put together unofficial ID cards.
With instructions from the staff of ARDC, we went to one of the many shelters started to temporarily house the refugees. Walking down into the basement of a dark and tight-quartered building, I suddenly became cognizant of my awkwardness as people squeezed by me in both directions, and grateful that two of the members of my group were male. Otherwise, I would have felt completely out of place when I realized that the first group of people I would be interviewing were all young men, crammed into one room with about 25 bunkbeds practically stacked on top of one another. They seemed to continue their life from the Ivory Coast in the corner, filling up large plastic tubs of water for washing and cooking, sights that reminded me of my own experiences in West Africa, but now were completely transposed into what used to be a brothel, evident by the rusty disco ball hanging from the ceiling, just above the heads of those who were lying on the top bunks.
I interviewed only about 15 people in the 5 hours that we spent there, but each individual had a completely different story and a completely different experience from the next. At times I had to use my broken French to explain the concept of an emergency contact, only to find again, that the individual was there on his own and did not have any one who could be held accountable for him. Another time, I could speak English freely, but quietly with a woman who was pregnant after being raped on her way out of her country. It was hard to determine the health of most of the interviewees, we could only go on what information they were aware of and were also willing to disclose. There were several, however, who were obviously injured from crossing the border. A few men had foot and arm wounds from climbing the fence at the borders, and even another was recuperating after surviving a bullet wound from Egyptian border patrol soldiers. The conditions of the shelters are far from hygenic or safe. This past week, there was even a fire in one, but there is only so much that ARDC can do for so many people. Every day in unpredictable. Police often come by and make arrests, only to send homeless individuals to prison. A couple of weeks ago there was a fire in one of the shelters, and then shortly thereafter, a varicella outbreak including pregnant mothers. Most recently, PHR has had to close the doors of its free clinic in order to draw attention to the ministry of health regarding the need for support (as seen documented here in a clip from the news in Hebrew. At this point, there is not much hope in returning to the lives they left in Africa, but only uncertainty for the future in Israel. Stuck in limbo, I imagine they are just trying to stay healthy and alive. Although it’s a small thing, hopefully at least with a laminated card of their photo and name, they will have a slightly easier time getting around here and also feel within themselves that the world recognizes their existence. Rachel Pope : rachel.pope@gmail.com
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