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» » » Beriwan and Newros Ay´s Story

Beriwan and Newroz Ay's story

We came to England in 1999 because the Germans wanted us to go back to Turkey and we were scared that we wouldn´t be safe there. All our relatives have escaped to other countries. Kurdish people cannot live freely in Turkey. We aren´t even allowed to keep our Kurdish names but are forced to change them to Turkish names.

We paid a lot of money to hide in the back of a lorry and come to England. We spent a day and a night in the lorry and it was very hard. In the night it was very freezing and in the day it was very hot. We didn¹t have enough air to breathe and my little sister and brother nearly died because they couldn´t breathe properly. We were very frightened that someone might find us in the lorry and send us back to Germany.

We claimed asylum when we arrived in England and have lived here for four years. Three of them have been very good. All our family was together and we were happy in the house we were living in. For the first time in my life we felt safe and that we didn´t need to run away and escape. We forgot about everything that had happened to us before and started to relax. I didn´t know what detention was until we were taken away. But if we are freed from detention I don´t think we´ll be able to forget about it because it has been too hard being locked up. We went to Northfleet School for Girls in Gravesend. we had 100 % attendance certificates. We loved school. Our grades were good and we never wanted to miss anything. Everyone accepted us and supported us, the pupils and the teachers. We want to be a doctor (Newroz) and a lawyer (Beeriwan) but we have fallen so far behind with our school work since we went into detention that I don´t know if we´ll still be able to follow our dreams.

Last year was not a good year for us. As an asylum seeker our dad had to sign on once a month at the police station to prove that he was not running away anywhere. But last May they arrested him there. We children came home from school and our dad wasn´t there. We were all shocked and crying a lot. First they sent my da to Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow then they deported him to Germany and from there he was sent back to Turkey. We have had no news of him from there and don´t know if he¹s alive or dead. Our mum thinks he might have been shot dead in Turkey or is in prison there.
We didn´t know what to do when they took my dad so we stayed at home for four days and then immigration came to take us. We didn´t want to go because we wanted to go to school. We were crying and scared. They took us to Gatwick Detention Centre. We stayed there for two weeks. Then one day they knocked on the door at 6am. We didn´t know why . They said we had ten minutes to pack our bags. We asked the officers where we were going but they didn´t say anything. They put us in a van and then they told us we were going to Scotland detention centre. We were all shocked because it´s so far away and we didn´t know why they were taking us to Scotland.

Several times they have taken us to different detention centres. Each time they move us they search us three times a day, they check our clothes, coats, hair, inside our shoes and inside our mouths. when they move us we get very tired and stressed, we get headaches and we can´t sleep. Most of the officers are bad. Every time they check us they check us like animals; we are humans. My hair keeps falling out and I have been diagnosed with depression, the doctor said I think about things a lot. (Newroz) Our little sister wakes in the night crying out: 'Why are we here, when are we going home'. She cries because she has no one to play with. There is not much to do here. The lessons are aimed at primary school children and we are only allowed outside from 4-5pm. Even if it´s raining we want to go outside but the guards who come with us don´t want to go outside if it´s raining. There is a yellow line painted on the ground outside and the staff shout at us if we cross it. We don´t know why it´s so important not to cross the yellow line on the ground when we¹re surrounded by high fences and barbed wire.

If we could go back to our country we would do it and wouldn´t be spending time in detention centres but our lives won´t be safe there. In the last year we are all very stressed, tired and fed up, particularly when they travel us up and down to different centres. Our mum is very upset because we came to two democratic countries, England and Germany, and they treated us like this. They don´t understand what will happen to us if we go back to Turkey. We hate to be able to see no trees, only metal fences. This is no place for children. We hope one day we get freedom.

Source: Ay Family Campaign
Homepage of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC)