Refugee mother reunited with sons

A miraculous chain of events involving the Jesuit Refugee Service has resulted in the reuniting of a Rwandan refugee with the three sons she was separated from three years ago. Therese, who arrived in Australia six months ago, was a last-minute replacement guest speaker at the JRS Melbourne Cup Luncheon in November 2008. A story about the luncheon - and Therese's speech - subsequently appeared on the JRS website. A few days later, a lawyer in France, who had been acting on behalf of three young Rwandan asylum seekers, searched for Therese's name on the internet and came across the JRS article. He contacted the Director of JRS Australia, Fr Sacha Bermudez-Goldman, and, after a brief conversation, ascertained that his clients were indeed Therese's sons.

Fr Bermudez-Goldman arranged for Therese to speak to her sons just as they were about to leave Mayotte, an island off Madagascar, 'I wish I could describe the sentiment in her voice as she spoke to them for the first time in years, but I cannot', he says. 'How do you describe the emotions in someone who has just discovered that her sons are still alive and well?'

Fr Bermudez-Goldman describes the experience as a privilege. 'Some would describe this event as nothing short of a miracle, especially since Therese only came on board as our speaker at the last minute to replace someone else whose relative had fallen ill. If not for that, her name might have never appeared on an internet search!' Therese fled Rwanda in 2006, following her forcible separation from her husband and later her sons, now aged 21, 20 and 18.

Of her husband, she says sadly, 'I think he's no longer alive.' She spent two years in Tanzania before making the journey to Australia, where she was quickly granted a permanent residence visa. Up to one million people were killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, while population displacement, insurgencies, and Rwanda's own recent involvement in conflict within the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to destabilise the country.

The miracle of Therese's discovery of her sons has deeper implications than the obvious joy of a mother who has found her lost children. Her own testimony of the horrors her family lived through will be used in her sons' case in France, hopefully strengthening their chances of receiving asylum there. 'Can you imagine?' Therese asks in response to the events of the past week. 'We're still crying! I need [my sons], I can't sleep, I just want to see them.'

By Catherine Marshall

4 November 2008