A blog from our client – Ebun

Post Date: Mar 31st, 2010 | Categories: Advocacy | COMMENT

I’m very grateful to Vision First for paying my electricity bill. I already owe three months and HK Electric threatened to cut the power on Friday if it’s not paid. If it happens I have no choice and would live without lights, but food would rot without a fridge so it would be terrible! It opens my heart you help me with such a huge problem that worried me sick night and day – it’s such a relief to finally solved it! Every night before I sleep I pray for everything to work out, for good things to happen, for my mother and for all the refugees … Since the new Immigration-Labour law in December, I couldn’t get an hour’s work if I wanted to, so every single dollar comes from charity and you don’t know how tough it is to beg every time … Back home my father owned two big fishing trawlers, we had work, we had fish, we had dream … then he was killed with my brother and my mother forced me to flee for my life … it’s tough to be a beggar when I know I can work, be productive and help myself. But what choice do I have? My uncle is a refugee in London but the Embassy won’t even give me an appointment … they said they don’t handle these cases here … they said “Send us an email” and never replied.

Only by laughing at the hopelessness around me, do I manage to keep my sanity after being broke for three years. The social worker ask me to move to Shamshuipo, but I hate it there. There are many dangerous people, many bad things happen at night so I’m safer living on Cheung Chau island. The advantage is getting fresh carrots, beetroot and bakchoy from the farms for just a few coins. All year I can fish and explore the jungle for fruits, like bananas and banana flowers I can cook and eat. The best are the jackfruit: you can find really big ones, which smell sweet even before opening them. You must put cooking oil on your hands and knife because the bubbly stuff inside irritates the skin real bad. The yellow ones you can eat fresh, but the white ones you need to cook with sauces and eat with rice. They are such a treat, you should come and try them!
Ebun 23, West Africa

Ebun jackfruit