Escaping persecution to live in limbo

Amina and myself are almost the same age. We both have grown-up children. We are both grandmothers. We both left our country of birth and are living in Ireland. But because of an accident of birth, our lives could not be more different.

Amina (not her real name) has spent almost 10 years in the asylum process in Ireland, living in the system known as direct provision.

She had never heard of the Republic of Ireland before she arrived here. She had no choice about where the agent took her when she had to leave her country to seek a place of safety after she had suffered forced labour, rape, and kidnapping. She left behind her mother and children.