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WHEN DONNAH VUMA returns to her home in direct provision after a hard day’s study at the University of Limerick, she is not allowed to cook dinner for her children, aged 14, 10, and eight.
Vuma, her son, and two daughters, have been living in a direct provision centre for the past four years as they await a decision on their application for asylum.
Their life story is typical of the thousands who live in Ireland’s direct provision system.
“For someone like me, with a family, it is not an ideal situation. We are not allowed to cook and I don’t have the right to work,” said Vuma, a 32-year old Zimbabwean.
Being deprived of employment and the opportunity to provide for her children is a torture in itself, she said.
In Zimbabwe, Vuma worked as a sales and marketing manager, but, because of a corrupt political regime and tensions in her home country she fled to Ireland.
“Simple things like not being able to cook for you’re family is very difficult for me; having to live on a routine, where you know you have to do certain things at a certain time, and doing them the same way every single day, is really difficult.”
‘Not the best situation’
It’s not the best situation or ideal way to raise a family.
Vuma and each of her children are provided with €21.60 a week to live on. Previously, the State-provided increment was just €19.10 per week.
Vuma said she and her family have been left scarred by the direct provision experience.
“There are health effects, visible ones,” she said.
“My little boy doesn’t eat the food that is provided, as it is either too spicy, or not to his liking; So, he doesn’t eat most of the time, so that has a negative health (impact) on him.”
“My daughter overeats, so obviously we know what the results are of overeating.”
Vuma also highlighted how “psychological effects are very evident” too.
With my fourteen year old daughter – at times, I don’t know if she is being moody because she is a teenager, and that’s natural, or, if it is because of the system.
She has bad days sometimes.
“She says to me ‘oh gosh, when are we going to get out of here’, so, it’s very difficult, in terms of them experiencing a normal childhood.”
Difficult
The experience has also been hard on Vuma: “It is difficult on me as well, as a parent, to know that I can’t provide fully for them, so that comes with its own challenges mentally.”
It’s quite difficult.
Despite the family’s ordeal, Vuma has not given up they will one day be granted asylum in Ireland.
In her own right she has become a powerful voice for migrants seeking political support for an “end to direct provision”.
In a keynote speech she gave, standing beside President Michael D Higgins at the launch of a four-year plan for migrant integration in Limerick last week, she highlighted the “barriers” faced by asylum seekers and refugees trying to access education, housing, and employment.
Vuma was crowned 2017 Clare Woman of the Year by the Soroptimist International Ennis and District Club, and she is a a member of the board of migrant rights organisation Doras Lumni.
She has been one of the lucky few to secure a path to higher education, and is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts Degree at University of Limerick.
The course, offered under the University’s Sanctuary Scholarship programme, waives fees for participants.
Vuma said she believes while there is a long road to walk for migrants in Ireland things are “definitely improving”.
The evidence of that is the fact there is recognition that there is a problem here, and (people asking) how can we fix it, and what is the way forward.
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Modern for the 80s
Was thinking the same, dull, drab, 70s hospital vibe about it,
ESB striding confidently into the mid 70s here
Easy to be a smartass.
A modern glass facade would be out of places and fake Georgian fronting would be worse.
I think it looks quite good if you look at more than one photo.
They would be do far better to design something very contemporary that would contrast with the Georgian architecture around, but something in the same sale and form. It would make the Georgian architecture stand out more and compliment it in a better way than what this does.
The design is complete crap – it’s basically a really crappy imitation of Georgian architecture with what looks like really crap materials. It’s going to look horrific, especially after a few years.
Well the Germans could rebuild their old city’s after WW2 in their original manner and we should too with this beautiful street.
I appreciate contemporary too but its best suited to rejuvenated areas like the Docklands etc. We can have both you know.
Have they not done enough aesthetic damage to that street all ready?? Please do not let them ruin it anymore
What a horrible unimaginative depressing looking building. Noting inspiring about this. Make them reinstate the Georgian facade and let them do what the want behind it!!
€150 million for a bland looking building. Would fit in well in the 80s. Don’t you ever learn? Hopefully the planners will block this. They construct buildings in London 40 floors plus for less then €150 million.
You realize how big the building is yes?
150 million sounds about right for a very large city center building which is extremely high tech. A standard office block would be a BER of C or D.
How long have you been in the employ of Grafton Architects?
Yeah because the ESB really needs to be in prime Dublin spot, how about a industrial estate in Athlone instead
There was a terrible idea if you have 2,000 ESB existing staff commuting to Athlone every day.
That is shocking, someone needs to pop down to the Academy on Pearse st to see how its done…
Someone please stop these stupid clowns from doing even more damage. Please because I’m sick of it.
This has got to be a joke.
The need to move out to CityWest or somewhere equivalent and restore the disgusting damage they’ve done to the Georgian neighbourhood they have destroyed.
As employees on such comfortable remuneration, pension and perks packages in the State, they don’t also need to be sitting in prime city centre historic real estate and destroying it at the same time.
Yes we should endeavor too see the Georgian areas of our city deteriorate even further. Since all the lawyers and consultants are leaving Merrion square already we can convert the entire area into card clubs, casinos, brothels and cheap apartments.
What a great idea!
That design is brutal looking to be honest but how would this thread go if the ESB where to spend the money designing something fancy.
Another spectacular piece of architectural shite
Wow, that plan looks amazing. So amazing in fact you have my full permission to increase our electricity bill to pay for this.
Ugggllleeeee!
Ugly as sin.
Meh
They can work put of portacabins.
You already butchered the street 50 years ago and all your attempts to recreate the old look of the street (which never would have alleviated the architectural vandalism by knocking it down in the first place) have been half arsed. Something a bit bold, modern and contemporary would have been better. This is painfully dull and too much like the bland trash built during the boom when making a quick buck was more important than any form of aesthetics.
Please Please get a British firm of conservation architects to design it by incorporating their neighbours properties. We have destroyed our city with our planners and architects who seem dead set on ruining our Georgian Capitol City . We seem to want to keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same result — dreadful planning and dreadful buildings.
That’s pretty ugly.
Please stop this it looks awful. Why don’t the ESBi move to some industrial estate and build this design. Please DCC se something of our city you already made a terrible mistake with these buildings. ESB are arrogant enough to go ahead and have too much money to care about the City
Christ almighty have the Architects been paid for this? If so then stop it now before it goes any further. Have we learned anything in the past few years, these guys with their own bloody institute giving themselves awards for buildings which really should be demolished eg the building on Merrion Row opposite O Donoghues, Civic Offices, Central Bank, 90% of O’ Connell Street, etc.
It must be corruption as nobody in their right mind would propose a building like this in a Georgian Area. It would fit in well in Ballymount Industrial Est. as an office HQ.
Looks pissh
They have simply looked at the existimg building and said “let’s improve on this style”. No no no no no. Please look outside of the box. These clowns were told what to design.
Reinstate the original facade.the ESB made a mess of the street.in the past so why trust them to do better now
Is there a way for us to complain and stop this?
Rotten
For a hundred and fifty million I’d build a fecking tardis and take whoever designed that blot on the landscape back to the seventies where they belong
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