| Bethsider
Tavares Must Stay - and it looks like she will
Asylum:
'I just want my children to be safe'
BY Dominic Casciani, BBC News OnlineFriday 24th October 2003
Bethsider Tavares Promoted at Work
Posted 18th July 2003
We are pleased to report that Bethsider Tavares, a care assistant at a
nursing home in London and a campaigning member of our organisation was
recently offered promotion to Senior Care Assistant in recognition of
her outstanding work. Following excellent evaluations from residents of
the home the management told her they were very proud of her work and
found her to be dedicated, committed and responsible. Bethsider will be
supervising care assistants, writing reports and distributing medications
as part of her new responsibilities.
Please write using the model letter
to David Blunkett informing him of the valuable service Bethsider is providing
to citizens of this country.
Bethsider
Tavares Must Stay
Posted Tuesday
13th May 2003
Bethsider
Tavares came to the UK in 1999 from Angola. Her and her husband Pastor
Charles Tavares spoke out against child labour and the forced recruitment
of children into armed groups during the war. One night in 1998 a gang
of men broke into their home and accused Charles of giving information
to international agencies. He was brutally beaten and Bethsider was gang
raped. In 1999 their home was attacked by a petrol bomb. Three of their
children fled unaccompanied to England after this attack and the remaining
two children witnessed their father being abducted. Bethsider later heard
from a minister in Malawi that he had been murdered. Bethsider fled to
Zimbabwe on false South African ID, the only option available to her to
save her own life. Bethsider came to Britain in 1999 to be reunited with
her children and they now live together in London.
Bethsider's
asylum application was refused on the grounds of her South African ID.
The Home Office did not accept that she was from Angola. At her appeal
little was made of her experience of persecution and again the focus was
on her South African ID. Yet Bethsider has been treated by the Medical
Foundation for the Victims of Torture and has been diagnosed as suffering
from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Bethsider
is a care worker at a nursing home and has completed an access to nursing
qualification and has a place to start a nursing degree at university
as soon as her immigration status is settled. She is an active member
of her church which is St John the Baptist in Chipping Barnet. Her oldest
daughter works and her second daughter is waiting for a place to study
social work. Her son is at school. Bethsider speaks 8 languages and has
made an important contribution to the community through her work and church
activities. We not only want her to stay in the UK we need nurses for
our health service.
What
you can do to help:
Fax/write
to the Home Secretary requesting that Bethsider Tavares is allowed to
stay. You can use the model letter attached
and feel free to add your own comments especially if you know Bethsider
personally.
Circulate
the campaign petition: Betsider petition
PDF
You can
fax David Blunkett on 020 7273 3965 from outside the UK + 44 20 7273 3965
Or write
direct:
David Blunkett
Home Secretary
Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
London SW1H 9AT
Ask your
trade union to take up Bethsider's campaign.
Letters
of support/solidarity:
Bethsider Tavares Campaign
c/o NCADC
Cambridge House
131 Camberwell Road
London SE5 0HF.
Please send
copies of any letters faxed/ mailed to NCADC at above address.
Inquiries/further
information
Alison Bennett
Bethsider Tavares Campaign
Source
for this page: Bethsider Tavares Campaign
The
contents of this page are the sole responsibility of the author/s.
==============
Disclaimer:
NCADC's web site is an important part of our work in educating
the public on immigration, asylum and anti-deportation issues. As part
of that work our web site hosts news and views from different individuals,
organisations and campaigns working in the same field as us. The contents
of named/signed articles are the sole responsibility of the author/s and
should not be taken as endorsement of any kind.
NCADC takes no responsibility for the content of external websites
linked from ncadc.org.uk and links should not be taken as endorsement
of any kind.
NCADC reserves the right to omit or edit the whole or any part
of material submitted for publication.
|
