Time Code

Picture On Screen

Voiceover

Interviews

01:11

Still picture of Sweetny

I last saw my daughter in 2001, so she was 4, she should be 10 by now

01:19

Marjory int. by break wall

And that is painful. that is…

01.38

VO over Marjory stepping out of her house and walking

Marjory was separated from her daughter in Uganda when she was arrested by government officials for her involvement in opposition politics. Her work and subsequently her crime was to help the women in her village now their rights. And teach them to read and write. She escaped after months of imprisonment and relentless torture by digging a tunnel and managed to board a flight to the UK

We not only had to deal with murderers, but with people who used weapons against defenceless children.

02.08

Marjory int. by breakwall+visuals of her on bus. bus

I was raped.. I was burnt…I was cut…I was electric shocked… no food…no medications… It was really horrible ... it was.

On my flight to here I came with nothing, I9 just came with the close that I was putting on. And then, I remember very well that from Heathrow they gave me directions and I went to Croydon to seek asylum.

02.44

VO over images of Lunar House in Croydon

When she reached the home office staff at reception were so shocked by her physical state, that medical assistance was called for.

02.54

Lunar house visuals +interview by break wall

The moment I reached in to the home office an ambulance was called for me. Home office themselves, the home office officials called an ambulance for me and I went to Mayday Hospital.

03.11

VO over hospital visuals

Home office officials told Marjory to come back to them to claim asylum. Once she has recovered she did, but her claim for asylum was refused. To Marjory, like most political asylum seekers, returning to her country of origin would mean certain imprisonment torture or death.

03.41

VO over picture of Bella. +visuals of family

At age 15 Bella was like any ordinary teenager, but a few days after these photos were taken, government officials came to her home in Uganda. They raped and abused her in front of her father to punish him for his involvement in opposition politics. With her life threatened she escaped and was granted refuge in the UK as a child asylum seeker. But once she became an adult and had children of her own, she was no longer welcome to stay in the UK.

04.12

Visuals of family on roof+ interview with Bella, c.u. of eyes

One day I came back home from grocery shopping and there was a knock on my door. There were immigration officers at the door. And they handcuffed me, they put me in a van and took my child away from me and they drove us to Yarls wood detention centre.

04. 37

V.o. over visuals of white van ead of International Atomic Energy

Yarls Wood is an immigration removal centre largely for the detention of women and children. A prison in all but name. Since it’s opening in 2001 damning reports paint a shocking picture of neglect and even cruelty towards the women and children inside. Investigations have led politicians, immigration expert and doctors to call for urgent measures, but reports of inhumane treatment still emerge daily from behind these walls.

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05.06

Int with bela

In detention I wasn’t allowed to be a mom. You cant carry you’re child. If you are used to carrying you’re child on the back you are not allowed to carry him in the back for “health and safety” reasons, and some children like my son at that time, he was used to being carried next to me and I felt like he needed that because he was in a strange situation so it was some comfort for him because he is used to that, but you are not allowed you are supposed to put him on the floor. Or you’re supposed to have a buggy.

At lunch time they give you a particular portion and if your child for any reason wants an extra portion-that’s it – you are not allowed any extra portion, so in essence you are not allowed to be a mom. You can’t give your child an extra portion. Jubil is that child who never asks for more food, but one day he was given noodles and he wanted an extra portion and everybody around me, the other detainees they were all amazed and I was so pleased it never happened in Jubils 2 years of life to want an extra portion of food, so I was so delighted I walked back to the cafeteria lady and asked if my son could have an extra portion and she told me no- cafeteria rules are that children cant have an extra portion. And of all my stay and all the hard things I’ve gone through in the detention, and all the fear of being deported, for some reason this was the lowest point in my life because for me here I was jubilating that my son, for the two years of his life, has asked for an extra portion and here was this woman standing in the way of the extra portion of food that my son has asked for, for the first time in his life. So I just broke down and cried in front of her. For me I don’t think someone should cry for a second portion for a child, I think that’s wrong.

I think that of all the things and all the pain, that was the worst thing for me as a detainee in Yarls wood.

07.13

Visuals of girl and mother Naomi driving in car

As you can see there is nowhere, there is nothing for miles..so you cant actually escape from Yarls Wood. It’s just in the middle of nowhere. It’s a really horrible place.

07.41

VO over car visuals

Naomi knows all to well the horrors of detention, having spent more than 10 moths locked up here at Yalrs Wood. Fortunately for her daughter she had someone on the outside she could trust to take care of her. But in the meantime it meant months of separation.

08:03

Int. w Naomi (+visuals of car and parking lot)

As an adult in detention it’s hard. You only have to see the children, and you just look into their eyes and they just look very expressionless

Without any emotion what’s so ever. I can’t imagine what they must be going through.

08:20

Visuals of car and parking lot

Naomi now visits Yarls Wood regularly to try and help other detained women know their legal rights. She is [art of a group called the Yarls Wood befrienders, who bring toys and cloths for the children that otherwise have nothing for months on end.

08:37

Int Bella

It was difficult to get through each day but you had to get through because you had a child who didn’t understand what was happening and who you didn’t really want to understand what was happening. So it was a battle of staying strong and shielding your child as much as possible from whatever was happening around you.

0903

Int Bella, +int over airport and aeroplanes visuals

Two days later I was taken to the airport, to be deported to Uganda. I told the people who were removing me, the escorts that were removing me, that I still had an outstanding claim and they told me that whatever outstanding claim I had, I will be able to appeal when I am in Uganda.

I did not want to go on the plain so I was curried on to the plain and In that struggle my hair was ripped out of my head. And the shoes were torn, and my son was carried away. I was forced into the sit and my hands were put behind my head, and I had a man on each side of me. And my hands were pulled like in handcuffed position. And my head was forced between my thighs and in the end I was eating the sit that I was sitting on. And this man who was pulling my hand on one side, told me that he was determined to take me to Uganda even if he had to break my arms. When he told me that, my hand broke down and I couldn’t fight anymore and I gave up. I was in such excruciating pain it was like another horror, like the horror of Uganda happening all over again.

At the point when I have given up, a phone call came through and the judge had decided that I shouldn’t be deported to Uganda because my son had not been given Malaria vaccination. So I was taken of the plain, I was told to sign on again at Croydon reporting centre. But based on what I had gone through and what had happened on the plain and the fact that these people knew everything I had gone through, that they were determined to torture me right to Uganda, I decided the best thing to do was to sit and wait until something will come through one day that will grant me status.

1137

Visuals of children

After these events, Bella lost faith in the system. And for her own safety and for the safety of her children she decided to abscond, constantly moving from one address to another, to avoid being caught.

1152

Visuals of Marjory at home

Marjory has spent the past six years fighting the system legally, it has paid off. And now with permanent status she can finally apply for a visa for her daughter Sweetney to come and join her in the UK

1207

Marjory int at her home

This is the thing that I was waiting for for six years. Just this piece of paper... immigration status document, residence permit, Ojule Marjorie, indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

From the time that I got into the UK to the time that I was granted status, it took six years.

You cant work, you cant go to college, you have to sign on, and then the waiting, the limbo, the not knowing what tomorrow holds for you. Whether tomorrow you are going to be deported back, or whether tomorrow you are going to go in detention, or whether tomorrow your accommodation is going to run out and you will become destitute… I’ve lost six years of my life, now I am going to resume my dream.

1306

V.o. over visuals of Marjory at home

And that dream is to be reunited with her daughter Sweetny

1310

Picture of sweetney, int. Margory.

I left her when she was a baby, she couldn’t speak properly, but now look she looks like this.

1319

Vo over stills

It was over six years ago when Marjory took Sweetney to visit her mother thinking she would shortly be back to pic her up

1326

Int. Margory in her home

I never thought that that day when I saw my mother, giving her my child, will be the last time that I will ever see her..

1338

Vo over stills

Marjories mother and Sweetneys only guardian died early in 2008, on the day of her death there was no one to pick Sweetney up from school. She has been living at the school ever since. Marjory now hopes that the visa application for Sweetney to come to the UK will be processed quickly so they can finally be reunited.

1431

VO over visuals of Naomi and daughter at home.

Naomi on the other hand is fighting to prevent the home office from taking her daughter away from her. They have plans in place to do what is called a split family removal, in which the mother is sent back into her home country and the child is put into foster care elsewhere. In this case due to tenuous family links in the US , and for reasons the home office only fully understands, Naomis daughter is to be left in the hands of the US foster care system to find a family there to look after her.

1503

Int with Naomi over visuals of Naomi and her daughter walking in the street

So she was ordered to report herself to Heathrow, even though she was only two, with twenty kilos luggage, and report herself to immigration in Heathrow, where she then be given her passport and she would board a flight to the US

1522

VO over Naomi and daughter in mall and post office.

In her battle to keep her daughter, Naomi has brought her case to the European court of human rights.

1529

Int. with Naomi over visuals of Naomi and daughter in the post office.

But the pursuit of international terrorists under military rather than civilian rules, alienated many US allies.

It wasn’t until the morning of the removal itself that my mom got a letter through the door saying the removal had been stopped and my daughter had been granted further temporary admission.

I have been told that with t he European court it could take about two three years before a decision is reached. So it’s just a matter of waiting really. You know, who makes the decision first – the home office or the courts..

1552

VO over visuals of Naomi in post office + Marjory in her kitchen

As Naomi waits to find out what will happen to her and her daughter. Marjory’s wait for Sweetneys visa application is over. The long awaited letter from the British high commissioner has just arrived.

1601

Margory int. in her kitchen

This is a letter to Sweetney, my ten year old daughter, from the British high commissioner of Uganda, a refusal of entrée clearance… where are the reasons… - there is no photographic or other evidence showing you and you’re mother together prier to arriving at the UK, as such you have failed to show that you are related to you’re mother as claimed and you therefore failed to meet the requirements of paragraph 27.

These are her name and date of birth..

She does not have anywhere to go other than staying in her school. She is ten, she can’t look after herself, she needs someone to do that. And I do not think its viable for others to leave school and then she stays… you know regardless of what the situation is… all she knows is- my mother is there and I cant be with her.

1717

VO. Over pictures of Sweetney

With the visa application declined because of a lack of photographic evidence showing that sweetney is indeed her daughter, Marjory must find a way to prove that she really is Sweetnies mother.

1728

VO over visuals of Bella and her children

Meanwhile Bella tries to make a normal life for herself and her children while remaining invisible.

1735

Int. with Bella

I have tried to everything that I would have done in my country. I have got two children and my partner is still with me. His the father of my two children, and I went to university, I’ve got a degree now, I’ve graduated last July, a Bachelor of science in criminology, so I’ve really achieved all the academic aims I had even when I was a little child. I just want the freedom to enjoy my academic qualifications

1808

Int. with Bella over visuals of her and her children in a playground.

I hope this stops at some point before my children get so into the motions of becoming an illegal immigrant. I hope one day my kids can be free to be children and not to worry about mommy being sad, mommy running around, I hope soon my kids can have a normal life so that they can keep their friends so that they can learn to have proper friendships, proper relationships for their own emotional well being. To aim high.

1848

VO over visuals of Naomi and her child walking in the street

Meanwhile Naomi life is on hold. She must report weekly to the local police station. While any-day a decision could be made to go ahead with the split family removal.

Naomi is not allowed to do anything until a decision is being made.

1904

Naomi int.

I’m not allowed to work I’ve got an identification card that has boldly written on it “forbidden from taking employment” we’ve given weekly benefits of about 90 pounds every week, its very difficult to survive on that little with a child, its almost impossible. In that 90 pounds you have to feed yourself from the 90 pounds, you have to take transportation, you have to by clothing, especially for a toddler who literally wears a few outfits and then it doesn’t feet anymore. You have to save, you have to cut out so many things you would otherwise want to buy in the supermarket ..you know it’s just…. .sorry it drives me nuts..

1953

Vo over images of Margory filming herself

In an attempt to help Marjory gather photographic evidence of her relationship to her daughter, we are sending a camera with a video message to Uganda, on which Sweetney will record a reply.

2009

Marjory recording a message

Hello Sweetney its mama here. How are you baby girl, I am hoping you are fine. I am doing everything I can to see that they give you a visa to come and join me. There is not a single day that has ever gone by without me thinking about you.

I love you, I miss you and I want you to keep strong, you keep praying that we are going to be together, because I know one day one time we will. Love Mama.

2102

Sweetney in Uganda

Hello Mama,

I would like to come and join you, I would like that they give me a visa to come to London and join you. Since my grandmother died I am in a terrible life, nobody has ever come to school to visit me. And I miss you so much ..I would like to join you.. Pray so hard so that they can give me a visa. I miss you very much. Nobody has ever come to school to take me back … I pray so they can give me a visa..