When will I see my daughter?

We asked a refugee living in Johannesburg, South Africa, to write us occasional blogs. This is his first.

When I left Zimbabwe in 2002 after being arrested, tortured and charged on several occasions, including under AIPPA and the POSA, I was advised by the MDC party that I must leave the country only for my safety.

When I arrived in Johannesburg I had no relatives here, only a letter from the MDC stating that I am a loyal member of the party. It also mentioned that NGOs can help me. The response I got from the MDC party in South Africa was they are a political party not a refugee organisation. This meant they cannot help me in terms of food, clothes and a place to stay.

I slept on the streets of JHB for a year because I could not find work, since I had no place to stay. I published my stories in every newspaper only to get no response from the so-called refugee organisations.

After a year I found a place to stay in a flat without electricity. The situation in Zim became very difficult both politically and economically and my two brothers came to join me thinking that it is better in South Africa. Now we were 13 sharing a room without electricity.

I used to write letters to my family letting them know that South Africa is more difficult than Zim economically but they did not believe me, that is why they came.

Where are they now? Back in Zimbabwe. Now I have spent 6 years without seeing my daughter and mother. Sometime I wake up in the middle of the night and cry for my only daughter and the whole family.

After the signing of the GNU my hopes came up again only to hear that Roy Bennett has been arrested and hopes vanished again. I phoned the MDC Regional Office to confirm if is safe for me to come home. The answer was NO, not now, you have serious cases which need special attention. No going home, no hope, to me the GNU means nothing.

When will I see my daughter? Is she learning? How tall is she? Is she alive? How does she survive? How does she say about me? Does she know she has a father? When I think of her and ask myself these questions I cannot sleep or eat.

This entry was posted by SA Refugee on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 8:18 am. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.