Told by Victor's father - who was detained for six weeks with his pregnant and ill wife and three children.
The children started to be ill. For example, Victor started to have asthma in the detention centre. But there they did not even allow the children to be in the corridor. They would only them allow to play in the rooms. When they were in the corridor it was a problem.
I went to the medical centre to have an appointment for the child. [The doctor] said ‘don’t worry, I will come to you. If the child is sick you should not come here in the centre; I will come tomorrow.’
He did not come until we left the detention centre. They did not treat Victor.
I went with Victor to the hospital. From the detention centre he had an asthma crisis, and we went to see the doctor. But the doctor said ‘the child is really well. Look how he is playing. He is really fine. No problem. No need for medication.’
At Oakington Victor continued with the asthma crisis, a strong crisis, and he had a high fever. We did not have a thermometer but you could see that he was at 39 to 40 degrees. On that day they brought us to the hospital. Victor was really unwell. When we brought him to hospital on this Thursday the Doctor was really angry with me: ‘Why did you leave this child in this state?’ I told him to look on my Oakington form. I went to the medical centre three times only for Victor. And when you go there they always say to you that he is fine, no problem, no problem. But on this day at the hospital they said: ‘How could you leave a child in that state?’
I said to him that every time I went to the medical centre they give you nothing. They just said it is because you want to be released. They say to you that you do not have a case; you just want to go back home. All the sickness that you talk about is a lie for them. They say you do that to have a medical paper to be released. But when we went to the hospital they gave him medication. They said sorry, here we have the time; there at the Oakington they are not children specialists.
Oakington is not a good place for families because it is too, too, too, dirty. Even the heating is not working. It is too dirty; it is dirty everywhere.
For the toilet, we were five rooms using the same toilet. In each room there is one family with two or three kids. There were even families with five or six kids. Which means there were between 20 and 30 persons for one toilet. In the bathroom there is one sink and one shower and one toilet. It is dirty. There is a carpet; instead of using the plastic carpet [bathmat] people use the carpet and you can imagine the smell that came from the carpet and came into the rooms. You can imagine one toilet with so many people and a pregnant woman who is using this toilet too. [My wife] got an infection from the toilet.
You are there at 12:30 and they call you one by one [for lunch] until 1:30. You have to eat between 12:30 and 1:30 because they close the kitchen at 1:30. At 1:30 we have to get out. Imagine a child like him. He doesn’t like the rice but he has to eat it. How long do you have to feed him? Even at home, we took time to feed him. We can eat until 1:30. If we haven’t finished at 1:30 – even the child – then we have to get out by 1:30 because they close it.
You stay in the room the whole day. Then you go out a bit but you do not stay because it is not clean. Which means that you stay inside all the time. The guards they do not speak with us. You do not have the right to speak to them. You only go to ask for something. But we did not have the right – it is only for the new ones – the ones who have just arrived. The ones who have just claimed asylum have the right to speak to the guards. You do not have the right to ask for something. You just have the right to sleep and watch the TV. There was only one TV for 45 rooms, one TV for all the families who were there. Then you stay in the room.
Breakfast is at 7:30 am. At this time the kids are asleep. For example, Victor was born with a heart problem. The only treatment he needs is to be sure that he has enough sleep. When he sleeps you need to be sure not to wake him up. This means that if he sleeps at 6:00 pm until the following day until 6:00 am then at 7:30 am when we wake up to go to breakfast, the children sleep; they do not go for breakfast. At 10:00 they open the restaurant for coffee. The children do not take coffee. Which means that we start to eat at 12:30. If you are lucky to be called in the first people then you eat at 12:30. If you are in the last they call you at 1:20 and at 1:30 you need to be out.
