Red Cross Blogs

Mary’s story

By Jamie
June 9, 2010 at 11:00 am

“My twin sister died of female genital mutilation (FGM) when she was 13 years old.”

However, when Mary* turned 13 years old, she was pregnant with her father’s baby. Her father had been sexually abusing her since she was eight.

“After giving birth, it became time for me to be cut. My mother came from a different tribe where they do not practise FGM and did not want me to have it done because she was scared that I would die like my sister. When I refused, community members beat me very badly. My father then kept me in a room where I was repeatedly beaten and five men came and raped me. I gave birth to another baby girl as a result of these rapes. They were trying to break me so I would agree to be cut.”

At 19 years old, her mother arranged for an agent to help her to escape. The agent took her from her home and put her on a flight to the UK. On arrival, she was abandoned on a bus bound for London.

Mary later found out that her parents were beaten to death by the community for allowing her to escape. Her younger sister now looks after her three children that she had to leave behind. They are constantly on the run in case the community tracks them down and kills them.

After Mary’s claim was refused in 2004 and her support was cut, she begged food from friends. She received weekly food parcels from a refugee organisation in Manchester. After this she found friends who needed help looking after their children in exchange for food or a floor to sleep on. She would spend all day looking after the children and doing housework. She worked hard so that they might let her stay a little longer.

“Some would let me stay for a week, some a month. I lost count of how many times I moved. The last friend that I stayed with let me stay for one and a half years. She is so kind. I was lucky.”

Mary was detained in 2008 when the Home Office raided a house she was staying in. There was a mix up by the Home Office with her case, which they later admitted. Her case is still unresolved.

Mary is HIV positive but has never disclosed this to any of her friends or acquaintances. She has numerous health problems stemming from this, including eye infections. Because of her poor diet she is severely anaemic. She has considered committing suicide on a number of occasions.

Mary came to the British Red Cross in 2009. She had been destitute for four years even though she had submitted further evidence to support her asylum claim in 2006. We provided food vouchers and arranged emergency accommodation for a weekend.

Part of a series of posts on the topic of destitution for Refugee Week.

* Names have been changed to protect peoples’ identities.

---

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: destitution, Refugee Week

The Red Cross values comments both complimentary and critical. However, we will not tolerate the following: aggressive or personal criticism of the blogger, breach of copyright, obscene, defamatory, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or likewise objectionable comments.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 11:00 am and is filed under Health and social care, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

---