Sorry, no jokes today. I just read a post by a Ugandan seeking asylum in Britain. She’s being held the Yarl’s Wood detention center and is on a hunger strike. Let it serve as a quick introduction to the craziness and cruelty of the current British approach to immigration. Her post isn’t an easy fit here, but the world isn’t all jokes, and as a fellow immigrant, although a far luckier one, I can’t just walk past without calling attention to it.
I found the post in Phil Davis’s A Darkened Room. He works with asylum seekers and writes well and knowledgeably about their struggles.
Notes from the U.K. 
What is going on in Britain and the U.S. (and Italy and Turkey and on and on and on)? The Western world seems to have caught some sort of flu. Thanks for drawing attention to her case.
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The number of refugees is immense, and countries they’re pouring into seem to want to deal with the situation by sticking their fingers in their ears and saying, “It’s not happening and if we do nothing for them they’ll all go home anyway.” It’s horrifying.
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so how did she end up in the UK in the first place?
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I don’t know the background and don’t want to speculate because I’ll almost surely be wrong.
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well, let’s just readily agree that her life is in danger if she is forced to return.
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It certainly sounds like it is. And there doesn’t seem to be any reason she should be in detention. It’s just the default setting these days.
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Thanks for the post! This is just outrageous! I am angry now! I think that Britain government is forgetting that immigrants are people too and they deserve at least to be treated with respect! And if we so western civilization, shouldn’t we take care more for people who seeking for help from the less developed countries . All those immigrants camps etc How all those happened! So shameful!
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It is shameful. Especially when our countries have, in many cases, helped create the situations that made their countries unlivable.
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It’s a cold and uncompassionate system, it seems.
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Outright brutal a good part of the time.
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Not much better in the United States. Sigh. Flu is a good way of describing the current attitude toward immigrants.
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I’m heartened by the humanity of individuals in our village, who’ve been wonderful about donating warm clothes and so forth, but overall? It’s chilling.
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So true!
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Chilling yes: here one of the parties that could end up in the government (one vote out of six) has pledged to send ALL immigrants who haven’t got legal status yet back to their home countries….
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I’ve been following it. It makes my blood run cold.
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I am not a fan of this government, but this, along with other news I have been following makes me ashamed of them.
The simple fact is Britain is probably responsible for 80% of other countries troubles. We need to stop ignoring our past, accept we were arseholes and try and make it right
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I think you’ve got a point, but even if we started from this moment, forgetting the past, and tried to acknowledge other people’s simple humanity it’d be a step forward.
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Yes, I agree, getting rid of some of the more right winged newspapers might help as well
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Thank you for sharing this. Here in America we need to be reminded that our problems are not the only ones on the planet…and maybe not the most serious !
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Hi all. As a fan and follower of ‘Notes…’ can I take a liberty?
Those of you who have commented on this post might also be interested in my blog https://darkenedroomweb.wordpress.com/
It’s not as funny or as well written as Notes, but it’s the best I can do to talk about my experience of working with asylum seekers in Britain.
Thanks
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I realized after I posted this that I should’ve mentioned your blog, since that’s where I first found the essay. I’ll edit the information in. Apologies for not getting it in at the right time.
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No problem, and thanks. :)
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Good for you
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“Currently I am still on hunger strike and eating snow as I feel that’s all I want to eat right now.” :(
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I know. It haunts you, doesn’t it?
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Yes. Can’t even imagine.
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It would be so nice to see an outbreak of simple humanity sometime soon.
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It would.
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Hi Ellen,
Congratulations! Your post won the Inspire Me Monday Linky Party. I will explain why when my linky party goes live tomorrow.
Janice
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Many thanks. I’m flattered. And if this is the post you’ll be linking to, I’m glad to have the original writer’s predicament publicized. It’s important that she not be forgotten.
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It (still) amazes me how cruel we can be to each other. The US has huge tracts of unoccupied land, but no “room” for immigrants
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I know. And if our countries were in the same condition as theirs, we’d be screaming to the skies if the world didn’t open its arms to us.
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