Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Have you ever wondered...
What it is like to be at a refugee hearing, listening to a young woman's story of courage... how her father had arranged a marriage for her and told her about it about two weeks before the big event, and then meeting her new "husband" on the day of the marriage and finding out that he is 68 and has two wives already and he lives a Bedouin lifestyle in another country, when you have been raised in a city... and telling your father that you can't possibly marry this man and having your own father threaten you if you don't marry him... then having a close friend who is going to Canada to get married throwing you a lifeline and bringing you there so you can escape this marriage. You make up a story about visiting a relative in Canada and then when you get there you tell your dad you aren't coming back. He is enraged and threatens you more if you don't comply. Then when you are in your refugee hearing, the board member is apalled but can't really believe that these types of things still happen in this modern world... so the decision is very, very close to being negative. Everyone takes a break - and everyone wonders what else can be said or done to convince the member that she is genuinely at risk of an "honor killing" should she return to her country. But then, after the break, the refugee board member decides she will accept the woman after all! I know what it is like, because I was there today.
