ACTION ALERT:
DONATIONS NEEDED TO HELP TRAUMATISED MOTHER FIND HER CHILDREN
Ms Peace Musabi has not seen or heard from her four children for over four years. S he doesn’t know whether they are alive or dead but like any mother is desperate to find out. Her oldest son disappeared and she was forced to leave the other three behind when she fled from Burundi to the UK in fear of her life in 2003. S he needs money to search for them and all the money she managed to scrap together for this purpose has run out. We are urgently asking for your help.
Background
Ms Musabi was forced to leave Burundi in 2003 after she and her family, who are Hutu, were targeted by T utsi authorities. Ms Musabi’s husband was kidnapped, and both he and her eldest son disappeared. S he sent her three other children (two boys now aged 15 and 10, and a girl aged 13) to stay with a family friend because she feared for their safety. S hortly afterwards, the family home was attacked and her brother was decapitated in front of her. Ms Musabi was imprisoned for six months and repeatedly raped as well as being tortured in other ways. S he managed to escape with the help of a friend who paid an agent and fled to the UK . T ragically and against all her instincts she was forced to leave the children behind because she thought they would be safer if they weren’t associated with her.
Ms Musabi’s asylum claim is being considered by the Home Office’s Legacy Group after negligent legal representation (acknowledged by the Law S ociety) led to it being refused without a substantive hearing. Ms Musabi arrived in the UK pregnant as a result of the rape she suffered in prison and is now raising a daughter.
As soon as she was able, Ms Musabi appealed to the R ed Cross to try and locate her children but she has received no news so far. In 2005, Ms Musabi was granted a small sum in compensation for poor legal representation in her asylum claim. S he used this money to make renewed efforts to try and find her children by paying people to look for them. S he learnt that the person who was looking after the three children had also fled the country. S he was both relieved to hear some news but distraught not to know if or how her children are now surviving. T he compensation money has now run out. Ms Musabi is now appealing for well-wishers to help her raise some money to continue the search. S he has calculated that she needs £1000 to start the search again. T he money would cover expenses for transport, food and accommodation for the person now in Burundi who is ready to renew his search but cannot do so without some basic financial help.
Request for financial help
Many of us are mothers, fathers and other carers. None of us can really imagine the horror of being forcibly separated from our children. Tragically and largely invisibly many women seeking asylum in the UK (including women in the All African Women’s Group[1]) live with this kind of heartbreak every day. Like Ms Musabi, they were forced to leave their children behind or saw them kidnapped and don’t know where they are or how they are suffering trying to survive without the love and protection of their mother.
Whilst Ms Musabi had no choice but to leave Burundi, she is haunted by grief and feelings of guilt that she failed as a mother to protect her children. This constant distress means she cannot begin to recover from her ordeal and her mental and physical health suffers constantly as a result. She is being treated for depression and sleeping problems.
When asked Ms Musabi said:
“My children never leave my mind. I cannot speak of them without breaking down. Every night I cry myself to sleep and all my days are clouded with guilt and self blaming.”
Ms Musabi is a key member of the All African Women’s Group, volunteers weekly to support other women and has courageously spoken to the press, at conferences and at other events to publicise the plight of women asylum seekers. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.
T o make a donation online please go to see Donate Online www.womenagainstrape.net and send an email confirmation that you are donating to this appeal. Or send a cheque made out to Women Against R ape (marked for Ms Musabi Appeal) and send to Crossroads Women’s Centre , 230A Kentish T own R oad , London N W5 2AB .