By Jane Serdoncillo

Jane Serdoncillo is a Columban lay missionary who has been working in Britain since 2000 after three years inPakistan.

Jane Serdoncillo

Fresta, a bubbly, beautiful young wife from Iran, fled from there for fear of her life. I met her through my involvement with RESTORE, a project of Birmingham Churches Together, an ecumenical group supporting refugees and asylum seekers. My work has given me the privilege of listening to their stories, of journeying with women and of being trusted. My work involves visiting and making the initial contact with refugees and asylum seekers before linking them to one of the ‘befrienders,’ generous individuals who volunteer a few hours a week to help and support refugees and asylum seekers in their locality.

When I first meet Fresta she was tense, afraid, apprehensive but desperately in need of assistance. She lived in a house provided by the National Asylum Support Service with four other women asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq and Zimbabwe. She had been a victim of physical, sexual and psychological violence from her abusive husband and in-laws. Because she feared for her life she fled from Iran to Germany with the assistance of illegal traffickers and applied for asylum. By doing so she had, according to their culture and tradition, shamed the ‘honor’ of her husband’s family by leaving him. The only way for them to restore that ‘honor’ was to kill her.

While awaiting the result of her application in Germany, her dream of being free was shattered when her husband traced her in detention and began to constantly harass her. She had no option but to leave Germany. Again with the assistance of traffickers, she arrived in England and applied for asylum using another name. When this was discovered she was put in police custody for falsification of documents and forgery. She was released later but was asked to report to the police every week.

What followed next was a long and winding road while anxiously awaiting her fate. One day she received a letter from the Home Office (the ministry for justice) telling her that her application for asylum was rejected and that she was to be deported back to Germany where she had first applied.

I was greatly saddened and can’t ever forget the horror in her voice when she told me this. I haven’t heard from her since. I often wonder if she ever achieved the realization of her dream of being free, or if it remains only a dream. But worse, is she still alive?