Creating a refuge for refugees

JORDAN MOSHE

“I can’t bear the injustice foreign nationals face every day in South Africa,” Petersen told the SA Jewish Report on Monday.

A qualified field guide and conservationist, this wife and mother of two devoted her life to the cause in the wake of the xenophobic violence which gripped the country in 2008.

“Some people sit back and say, ‘shame’, others donate money,” she says. “For me, that’s not enough. I feel l have an obligation to do something. It’s an impulse I can’t control.”

Petersen is one of the five dedicated team members of Afrika Awake, a non-profit organisation formed in 2013 to address xenophobia in South Africa and support survivors who lost loved ones in the violence. Since the onset of the lockdown, she and her team have worked tirelessly to support refugee and migrant communities across the country, bringing food, support, and hope where it’s most needed.

She hit the ground running before lockdown began, she says. “When schools closed, we immediately thought about the demographic we usually assist – refugees. I also have a soft spot for urban-resource miners and car guards, so I got thinking.

“I went shopping and, looking around the parking lot, I wondered what would become of the car guards if we went into a full-scale lockdown. How would they support themselves and care for their families?”

After raising some funds on Facebook, Petersen set out to supply the vulnerable in her area with hand sanitiser and mielie meal. When lockdown came, she realised that she would have to do far more to bring relief to the countless individuals who depend on Afrika Awake to meet their basic needs.

“So many people are starving, and many of them are foreign nationals,” Petersen says. “We help South Africans as well as foreigners without discriminating, but the fact is that foreign refugees are last on anybody’s list right now. They need our help more than ever.”

By partnering with the African Diaspora Forum, Afrika Awake was able to connect with local groups of foreigners, asking community leaders to provide lists of those in need. Representatives of Nigerian, Rwandan, Congolese, Bangladeshi, and Somalian communities were just some of those who asked for help, desperate to meet the basic needs of hundreds of people.

Over the past few weeks, Petersen and the team have provided numerous food parcels, e-wallet payments, and supermarket vouchers to innumerable applicants. They have also helped to support feeding schemes in Tembisa and Alexandra by supplying them with soup, providing a nutritious and filling meal to countless orphans and refugees, the elderly, and homeless.

“The sad reality is that our demands are great, and our funds too little,” Petersen says. “We give R200 in vouchers to people, reaching more people by giving them a little less.

“It’s heart-breaking to send such tiny amounts of money. How far can R200 really go? Still, you can’t believe how grateful people are. Someone we helped wrote to us to say that the R200 felt like a million rand to him. It makes a difference.”

None of the organisation’s members draws a salary. They rely solely on the generosity of the public. While they have responded to more than 2000 requests to date, their list of appeals remains long, and continues to grow daily.

“It’s heavy stuff, and you wake up knowing that thousands out there need help,” Petersen says. “So many people say they are struggling to stay in lockdown. Try being poor and not South African, then you’ll know what struggle really means.

“In spite of our brilliant Constitution, South Africa remains xenophobic to the core. But we are all human beings, and no human being is illegal,” she says, pointing out that she doesn’t care if those needing her support are documented migrants or not.

Many question why Petersen doesn’t support the impoverished in the Jewish community, and have challenged her decision to support refugees when many of them are undocumented.

“Our community is sensational,” she says. “I never have to worry about the Jewish community. Yes, there are those in need, but no Jew will be allowed to starve.

“Foreign nationals are, without doubt, the most vulnerable and least likely to be on anyone’s list especially at this time. Ninety-nine percent of foreigners in the country want to be registered, and the system just doesn’t work for them with so much corruption and other obstacles.”

She urges those who can assist to do whatever they can. “Every bit really helps. We are like professional beggars. I ask anyone who can help to give something. What if I were a refugee in a country that hated foreigners? I could only hope someone would help me. That’s why I need to help them.”