Uni dreams come true for asylum seeker

DCU helps those in direct provision reach third-level, Chai Brady writes

After being tortured in Africa and escaping to Ireland, an asylum seeker’s prayers were answered when he was accepted into university on his birthday.

Shepherd Machayah lives in a Direct Provision centre in Portlaoise, and was “very, very worried” that his application to Dublin City University’s (DCU) University of Sanctuary scholarship programme wouldn’t be accepted.

After studying Computer Science in Portlaoise College he applied for third-level courses through the CAO, but could not afford the fees.

“No one could pay for me to go to school, so I was very sad to be honest. I didn’t have any plan,” Zimbabwe native Mr Machayah told The Irish Catholic.

After hearing about DCU’s programme, he applied, which was challenging as he says there is only one communal computer among about 100 asylum seekers in his direct provision centre, making online time scarce.

As he progressed through the application process, he said: “I was praying a lot, I keep my Bible here, and I keep reading my Bible, and I was thinking God help me.”

“It wasn’t easy to be honest, I was very, very worried, I really wanted to continue on with my studies.”

Accepted

On the day of his birthday in September 2017, he was lying in bed and received an email from DCU – he knew this would tell him whether he had been accepted or not.

“I was afraid to open that email, then I said, whatever happens at least I tried,” he said, and saw that he had been one of the 10 asylum seekers out of 61 applicants that were accepted.

He said: “I jumped out of bed, it was my birthday, I was lying in bed, I didn’t have a plan – I was bored. It was just a tough day. I didn’t have anything, it’s not easy to be in direct provision.”

He is now studying Management of Information Technology and Information Systems in DCU.

Mr Machayah had to flee from his home country, from his family, children and his job, due to extreme political tensions and violence.

He says people were ordered to attend rallies and were forced into trucks, adding that pictures would then be taken of the gathering to give the appearance of a strong political following for a particular party in his country.

“If there’s 20,000 people, 15,000 were forced to be there, they’ve been beaten up,” he said.

After refusing to support the party, Shepherd told this paper he was subjected to inhumane treatment.

“I was taken, I was tortured. When I say tortured, I wish I had a video to show the experience of what happened. I was beaten up, punished, I was taken into the thick of the jungle where you don’t even know where you are.”

Fortunately, he managed to escape and entered Ireland as an asylum seeker two years ago.

Just this month DCU organised a ‘Refugee Week’, which aimed to fight stereotypes and raise awareness of mental health issues among asylum seekers in Ireland’s direct provision system.

With several events organised to raise funds and encourage a better understanding and an interaction with people seeking refugee status in Ireland, it was the first initiative of its kind in the university.

Students’ Union Welfare Officer Podge Henry took part in one of the events which encouraged students to live on €21.60 a week – the stipend that asylum seekers receive each week – to show how difficult it is to do basic things many in Ireland take for granted.

“I had to go to a meeting and I was late, I hopped in a taxi and got dropped to town and when I got there I realised I’d spent €17 on the taxi alone,” said Mr Henry.

“It was funny to look back on but when we really thought about it we realised that if you are in direct provision and you have a child and you want to go to a match, and you live somewhere quite far away, it’s actually really difficult to try and budget €21.60 a week.”

Refugees

Mr Machayah said that where he lives in Portlaoise is surrounded by farms and is 12km from the nearest town.

“You can’t do anything, you can’t go anywhere,” he said, “there’s a bus that goes into town, but what are you going to do in town? You only get €21.60 a week, you can only get a chance to go to town once, but for the rest of the week there’s nothing to do.”

In another event DCU’s Soccer Club and Syrian refugees from Mosney Direct Provision Centre had five-a-side matches.

There are hopes that the week will be recreated in future, and become as well established as the university’s Mental Health Week.

During the week DCU marked the publication of its first ‘University of Sanctuary’ report which highlighted that 15 scholarship students in the asylum process were enrolled in DCU since September 2017. Five students are currently attending lectures on campus while 10 others, including Mr Machayah are learning through DCU’s online platform: DCU Connected.

Speaking at the launch of Refugee Week the CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, Nick Henderson said: “DCU have lead the way in providing meaningful education opportunities for people seeking asylum in Ireland. The innovative mixture of scholarships, English teaching, advocacy campaigns and sport are crucial in bringing real, positive change to people’s lives.”

Along with providing scholarships the university provides books for asylum seekers in Mosney through the DCU Hope Mosney Book Club, and research projects examining migrant integration into the school system and intercultural support for Syrian refugees in Ireland have begun.

When asked about the importance of Faith in his life Mr Machayah said: “Everything I’ve done in my life is based on the Bible, based on God, I believe that God leads the way.”

“He is taking me step by step, all I do is keep praying.”