Another country

Wendy Wallace
Wednesday, July 4, 2001

Early years workers have an important role to play in the lives of refugee children from traumatised families.Wendy Wallace reports. Little Ayak was at home with her mother in southern Sudan when government soldiers came to take away her father, who was a teacher, accusing him of involvement with the rebel army. Her mother and the children fled for their lives. They went on foot, walking by night and eating wild foods on the way, to a neighbouring country. There, relatives helped them get a flight to England, where they applied for asylum. Now Ayak, aged five, lives with her mother and three brothers and sisters in the London borough of Haringey. Separated from their wider family, grieving for their missing father, the family lives on little money in a tiny rented flat while waiting to hear their fate from the Home Office.