Archives (4th August 2018): Eleven days to go

01/12/18 03:38

The political mess with the judicial reforms in Poland makes me sick, disgusted and above all ever more disappointed with my own country. I am worried that things will get so bad that the powerful will corner themselves to the point that there will be no reasonable solutions to clean up the mess, and things will need to be solved by applying some radical measures. I have been wrong on some of the political pessimism that I have relating to Poland, and I wish so hard that I am wrong this time around too!

It is eleven days left for Tahir to leave the IDC and travel to Toronto. I still worry about him, but good news is that we are managing to visit him daily, and we manage to get him supplies of food and other goodies to make him as comfortable as possible while detained. The detention is not tough for Tahir only. Other detainees are seemingly far less comfortable situations. Most of the people do not get support that we are trying to provide to Tahir, and worse so, many do not know how long they will be detained, and whether they will ever be able to leave the IDC. Things in Thailand are bad these days. The police are extremely active these days in arresting ‘illegal’ migrants, and the refugees, although are not targeted become the 'collateral damage’. The police do not see any reason not arrest a refugee, even if officially recognised by the UNHCR. Those refugees who are caught are brought to the IDC, and they stay there indefinitely. They are not being deported back home (as Thailand committed itself not to deport UNHCR card holders - even if it does not recognise the card itself), but they are not left to carry on living normally and are kept imprisoned. Extremely disconcerting!

In Canada, the preparations for Tahir’s arrival are ongoing too. Our friends in Toronto have already made arrangements to get his language evaluated by the governmental agency dealing with education. This will allow Tahir to get admitted to public educational institutions (suitable to him) free of charge! Fantastic news. The second great news is that our friends are making arrangements to register him with the health authorities, so that he can his health insurance. I am very excited about it, as it will be for the first time in his life that Tahir will be insured!

Back here in Bangkok, I am preparing for 2 professional trips. Right after Tahir departs for Canada, I am hoping to be able to go to the Philippines to follow up on some of our projects there (helping victims of severe flooding, and victims of forced displacement related to fighting in the southern part of the country). Shortly after the visit to the Philippines, together with my colleague, I will be travelling to Fiji and Tonga in the Pacific. Similarly, the trip is to ensure that the humanitarian intervention that my organisation has supported is going well (helping victims of the cyclone). While in Fiji, we will have some meetings with various organisations specialising in responding to disasters in the Pacific region. The meeting with these organisation is to discuss how we can better support their work.

Seems like some busy weeks are coming.

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Archives (4th August 2018): Eleven days to go