Please help us start a new life!

Aisha’s family is among 3,400 war-ravaged Iraqis in Britain seeking asylum in Britain and she is terrified that her claim will be rejected and her war traumatized babies will be forced to return to a country that has been devastated by war.

"It is not myself that I care about," says Aisha, "it is my children who have seen terrible things that no little child should see."

"They have nightmares every night and my husband and I are exhausted. We are not well ourselves -- I cry all the time and I am in constant pain, and my husband suffers deep depression, too  -- and I worry all the time about what will happen to my babies if we die here, or if we are forcibly returned to Iraq."

"How can we help our babies overcome the terrible things they have seen and been through when we are victimized in this way?"

"Our misery is seen by them every day and because they never see us happy they are not happy themselves," cries Aisha. "But how can I pretend to be happy when I am crushed with sadness about the terrible life we left and have been given no hope for the future?"

"Is it that your country hates Iraqis or hates Muslims so much that you would send two little babies back to Iraq to get killed?"

"Everyone helps tsunami and earthquake victims," sighs Aisha. "Why is nobody helping the terribly traumatized people of Iraq -- especially the little children?"

"We are here; please help us start a new life."

Read more by Aisha on this issue:

• Go back where you came from?
• limbo immigrants
  

Go back where you came from?

Non-Anglo Saxon asylum seekers in western countries are often told to go back where they came from, but Aisha makes the point that few foreigners would be seeking asylum if the West kept its nose out of other country’s affairs and stopped killing their children.

"We were warned before we came here that most British were racists and bigots, but we did not believe these warnings," says Aisha. "Now, I am willing to believe. But at the time it was too late for us to seek asylum in Syria or Jordan like so many thousands of Iraqis had."

"We were here and we were here to stay until our refugee claim was finally accepted -- as it was, in time," says Aisha. "The British government's involvement in the invasion and ruination of Iraq meant that Britain had an obligation to accept refugees from that country."

"Indeed, I think the asylum claims of Iraqis and Afghans are more valid than others," says Aisha. "It surprises me that there are so many asylum seekers here from other parts of the world which have no ties whatsoever with Britain. Why are so many Congolese, for instance, seeking asylum in Britain?"

"Yes, I know, Britain is overwhelmed with asylum seekers and EU immigrants and everyone just wants us to go away -- but where are we to go away to?"

"It is a matter of chance where anyone is born, natural disasters are happening all over the place, even Britain, and everyone's life, so to speak, is just a lightning strike away," says Aisha. "So, why make life more unbearable for poor people by invading their country and starting a war?"

“We were told by the racists to go back where we came from,” says Aisha, “but we had no reason to seek asylum before your country invaded Iraq.”

“We are here because your country ruined ours.”

Read more by Aisha on this issue:

Please help us start a new life!

limbo immigrants