Neighbour's eye witness account as UK deports Zim mum

Neighbour's eye witness account as UK deports Zim mum

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By Selma Chalabi

"YESTERDAY (23 November 2004) I woke up to the sound of banging at the door. I live in a tightly knit terraced house in Grangetown, Cardiff and it sounded like it was my door.

I stumbled out of sleep at 7am with a certain amount of panic. It took me a while to realise that the immigration service had come to pick up my neighbours – a Zimbabwean woman and her two children.

She’d lost her appeal, and we all knew that they would come some time. When they did come, they came in full force – I counted six heavies, and two people carrier cars with darkened windows. You’d think they were doing a dawn raid on a drugs house. Yes, she was an illegal immigrant in the sense that she’d lost her case to stay, but this woman was no criminal.

The way she was being treated was visibly humiliating. I wasn’t allowed to speak to her, and when she finally emerged with her children, it was a somewhat hasty and emotional goodbye. I did manage to get a card off one of the officers. It had written on it ‘Working for a just, tolerant society’. It didn’t quite match up with what I was witnessing.

I lived next door to my neighbour for three years. She was a pleasant woman who kept to herself and studied hard for her masters. Her children were a delight. The boy who was twelve was a brilliant footballer. Many children in the road used to knock on his door wanting him to come out and play football in the street.

They were obsessed by the game, and it was a joy to watch. The nine year old girl was a madam, and kept many of the younger children in line. I woke up this morning to a quiet house next door. I’ll miss them greatly, and I know for sure that the children on our street will miss them. The saddest thing is that they didn’t get the chance to say goodbye. Just, tolerant society? I don’t think so."
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