Fifty-one-year-old Gale Daniels is as the saying says, ‘trying to keep her head above water’ with her only silver lining being the hope of being reunited with her eight children.
But this seems a faraway dream for her as the over $200,000 she needs to make it a reality is far beyond her reach and she sees no means of acquiring that sum in the near future. The sayings ‘when it rains it pours’ and ‘old house pun old house’ aptly describe Daniels’ situation and she says that were it not for the prospect of seeing her offspring she may have thrown in the towel ages ago.
Her troubles may have started many years ago but they deepened just about four years ago when she was involuntary returned to the country she had left at age 16. She was forced to literally abandon her eight children. Some of them were adults at the time, but the youngest was just five years old.
The lives of some of her children could be described as troubled before her deportation; two were incarcerated. However, since she left, one became a mother at age 16 and two attempted to take their lives by drinking pills.
Daniels, who had never visited Guyana in the more than 30 years she lived in the US, has been fighting since her deportation to return to the country she deems her home. She is very close to realising that; she now has her second appointment at the US Embassy here in Georgetown, but needs her visa processing fees and a waiver fee both of which amount to just about $218,000.
Daniels was deported after she was prosecuted for stealing from her employer. This was compounded by an earlier conviction after she cheated social services by putting state funds given to her to pay for baby sitting services to her own use. She said she was not incarcerated on either of the charges as in both instances she repaid the money.
The sum of money she stole from her employer was just over US$400 and it was out of desperation to secure a lawyer for her son who was incarcerated. In the end though she paid the money, the lawyer never visited her son.
“It was hard for me. It is not something I would do but money was already coming out of my salary to repay the state for the baby sitter story. My rent and bills were piling up and my son was behind me asking to get a lawyer for him and I just did it over three days; took the money,” she told Stabroek News recently in an interview.
Even though she was not incarcerated Daniels got the shock of her life – like so many other Guyanese – when she was told of her impending deportation. She attempted to beat the system by having one of her sons file for her. The process had begun, she said, and she was granted the right to remain in the US but there was some mix-up and before she knew what was happening she was on a plane bound for Guyana.
‘Mistake’
Daniels, like many others, had never applied for US citizenship, which would have saved her from being deported to Guyana.
According to founding member of Juncata Juvant (Latin for ‘things joined together are helpful’) Friendly Society, Donna Snaag – also an involuntary returnee – it is a mistake made by many persons who only learn the importance of ensuring they are citizens of US when it is too late.
While the organisation has been primarily set up to assist those persons who are returned to Guyana – mainly helping them to be reintegrated into a society they know nothing of – there is just so much it can do and no more. Although Daniels’ story is a heart-wrenching one, Snaag said, what she needs most is what the organisation cannot offer — the financial assistance to secure her return to the US.
Daniels’ story may be one that is unique as while many who have returned to Guyana long to return to the land they see as their home it is just not possible. Many unfortunately do not get the kind of support they need and may end up living on the streets.
Snaag says her organisation assists as much as it can. The organisation has been of tremendous support to many, assisting them with finding employment – one of the biggest setbacks when persons are deported — and importantly ensuring that they receive the necessary documentation such as passports and birth certificates.
Snaag said it is never easy to find employment for deportees but the organisation has a volunteer who works feverishly to do so. While there has never been any complaint from employers, some employees feel they are being exploited because of their status.
Funding for the organisation has dried up, but Snaag said it is currently in negotiation with an international organisation which should see it receiving some assistance.
Many persons now walk into the organisation, now located on South Road between King and Wellington Street, for assistance.
Stigma and discrimination remain the biggest problems involuntary re-migrants experience and Snaag likened this to what persons infected with HIV experienced in earlier years.
“We need to do more public awareness to help people to understand that these are just ordinary persons. Some of these persons are just immigration violators… and non-violent persons and that they have skills that could benefit the society,” Snaag said. She said public awareness is one of the organisation’s aims once it secures funding.
Juncata Juvant’s co-founder said it badly needs assistance to get some form of facility that would offer temporary accommodation to those persons who have nowhere to live so as to avoid them having to turn to the streets. As it is right now, the organisation has secured accommodation for a few persons at the Salvation Army.
Not all sob stories
But it is not always sob stories for some involuntary returnees; some have family support and are not left on their own and their relatives in the US assist them financially initially.
But regardless of the situation it is never an easy time as Ninion Gibbs and Sharon* (who is not confident that should she make her status known that she wouldn’t lose her two jobs) recently told Stabroek News. Both are well educated. Sharon said she has degrees in communication, psychology, and business and was working for US$97,000 a year doing litigation for an insurance company.
Gibbs, who was incarcerated for robbery under arms before he was returned to Guyana, said he was set to start computer studies when he committed the last of many offences he had under his belt in his 18 years in the US. He told this newspaper that he had received some support from his relatives when he returned to Guyana on Mashramani Day in 1998. He had left the country as a child and had never returned during those years and as such knew nothing of Guyana when he touched down at the airport. He has worked at two major insurance companies over the years and has done well but his attempts to open his own business – an employment agency – have all failed for the lack of financing. He found out the hard way on three occasions that banks were not willing to lend a deportee money no matter how good the business plan may be.
“When I was being returned I had no plan because I did not know what I was coming to but I knew I was going to be free and that is all that mattered at the time,” Gibbs said.
Describing himself as someone who was misguided, Gibbs said while in the US he focused on fast money. But he has learnt his lesson and now he only wants to be given the opportunity to really be a productive citizen of the country of his birth not only for himself but for his young daughter. He is not one to blame others for his past mistakes, after all, according to him, he was a leader rather than a follower. But he says everyone makes mistakes and he like others in his position should be given a second chance.
‘Never thought’
Sharon said she would never have believed that her attempt to finally get away from a husband who was no good for her would have seen her sent away from the only place she called home.
She had left her husband, but he was stalking her and had her moving from state to state. Sharon wanted a divorce, but he was not willing to grant it. The judge in their case felt that since they had three children they should give it another try and go into counselling. Sharon said she was not willing to give it another go; she just had to get rid her husband for good and she “stupidly” forged his signature to get her divorce.
“I never thought that I would be deported if I got caught but it was a crime and they started immigration proceedings against me. I had to be incarcerated while my case was being proceeded with and I couldn’t live with that so I chose to be deported,” she said.
She speaks to her children often and has seen them a few times in other countries but they have never visited Guyana.
She had no family in Guyana, but her mother had friends who looked out for her when she returned to Guyana 27 years after she would have left the country at the tender age of three. For her it has not been as bad, but she still wants to be paid for her qualifications and treated with some more respect.
“A lot of people need assistance but they need to get into the frame of mind that they are here to stay and need to understand Guyanese society so they can really function,” Sharon said.
It took a while – during which she was robbed a few times — before she really felt secure in Guyana and with her recent marriage to a Guyanese life has certain gotten better for Sharon.
She feels if she makes the attempt she would be granted the right to return to the US; and it is something she may have to do to be reunited with her children but for now this is her home and her husband of two years definitely makes life easier.
Both Sharon and Gibbs have felt their share of discrimination and it is one of the main reasons they joined Juncata Juvant in an attempt to make lives easier for others. Their advice to parents who take their children to the US is to teach them about Guyana and ensure that their children are kept connected.
They also asked that Guyanese at home be a little more tolerant of those who are deported as anyone can be returned some for minor infractions.
“Some people get deported for living illegally in a country just trying to make life easier for them, should they not be given another chance?” Sharon asked.
But for Daniels she does not want to be integrated into society she only wishes for some assistance in securing the funds she needs for her visa. Persons who are willing to assist Daniels can contact her at 221-2014 or 662-3256. Juncta Juvant can be contacted at 225-8303 and 225-8309 and its website address is juncatajuvant.org.gy.
