Just three chance encounters have led to a Sierra Leonean family’s reunion in Australia.
With a bit more luck the whole family will be reunited this year.
On January 6, 1999, Mary Fonah was a nurse working at a government hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her husband, a doctor, phoned to say the rebels had reached Freetown. He would shortly collect Mary from the hospital after picking up their children.
The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002) had finally reached Freetown. Rebel forces with help from Liberia’s National Patriotic Front were determined to gain control of Sierra Leone’s diamond fields.
The family was separated with neither Mary nor her husband and children knowing each other’s fate. Three weeks later Mary arrived at a refugee camp after a terrifying journey.
Mary saw so much suffering in the camp and having studied midwifery in Britain, she begged aid agencies for help to teach literacy and provide basic medical assistance.
One day a group of young men sought her help with a young boy burnt from a campfire. Among the carriers she recognised her son Joseph. He had been living three hours' walk away on the other side of the camp.
Through her voluntary work Mary was introduced to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative. Hearing Mary’s name, she showed Mary a picture of Mary’s eldest son, Samuel, now in Australia with two sisters, seeking news of his family.
Joseph worked for a month collecting wood from the bush to raise money for Mary to buy a mobile phone. Contact was made with Samuel, and Mary and Joseph came to
Sydney.
At a Sydney railway station Mary saw an acquaintance from Sierra Leone. However the woman was terrified, believing Mary was a ghost. Newly arrived, the woman had recently spoken to Mary’s husband in a camp. He believed that Mary was dead having heard no news for nine years. Contact was made with her husband two days later.
Mary now works for UNHCR in Sydney and has been granted approval for residency in Australia. Her husband and 12 other family members remaining in West African camps are also cleared for residency, provided they pass their medicals.
Amnesty Springwood Branch will hold a benefit concert to raise money for the cost of airfares to reunite the family. The concert featuring the band Upright (Afro Reggae) will be held at 3pm on March 3, at the Springwood Civic Centre. For more details phone (02) 4751 2076 or (02) 4751 1549.]
