SA couple’s desperate bid to get home from South Africa for surgery for sick daughter

An SA couple stuck in South Africa, desperately trying to return home so their baby daughter can have surgery are among the stranded South Aussies calling for long-awaited help from home.

A South Australian couple desperately trying to fly home from South Africa so their baby can have surgery are urging political leaders to lift the cap on international arrivals.

Bill Tsouvalas and his wife Cristal are racing against time to get their nine-month-old daughter Penelope home for surgery to repair a heart defect.

Bill and Cristal Tsouvalas are stranded with their three children in South Africa and are trying to get home for surgery for baby Penelope, who was born with a whole in her heart. Picture: Supplied

The couple has had multiple flights cancelled in the past few weeks – including when they forked out $23,000 for business-lass tickets for their family of five.

The couple was even told they were on a repatriation flight, only to arrive at the Qatar embassy in Pretoria and be turned away at the last minute.

“My No 1 priority is getting my daughter back to Australia as soon as possible,” Mr Tsouvalas said.

He urged governments to lift the “unfair” arrival caps and do more to get stranded Australians home, rather than leaving airlines to manage who gets flights.

He said it “wasn’t that simple” to fly home in March when Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Aussies to return, because they had to pack up their lives, businesses and home, during their own lockdowns.

Rebecca Reid with her children Callum, 14, Mykala, 13, who haven’t seen their dad in months. Picture Matt Turner.

We want our dad home for Christmas

By Rachel Moore

Callum and Mykala Reid have seen their dad once in five months.

It is looking increasingly likely that they will have to wait until Christmas before seeing him again. Their dad, Matt, is a FIFO worker in WA, and before the COVID-19 pandemic, would work for two weeks and then spend a week at home in Hahndorf.

But quarantine rules and the difficulty of securing an essential-worker exemption to be allowed back into WA makes returning home to see his family simply not feasible.

His wife, Rebecca, is at breaking point. “Logistically, it’s just easier for him to stay there,” Mrs Reid, 44, said.

“I’m not good at all, particularly knowing that at this stage we are working on the basis that he won’t be home until Christmas.”

Mrs Reid said FIFO workers who travelled from COVID-safe states should be exempt from border rules.

“We understand that the borders are in place for the general population but these guys are holding up the Australian economy,” she said. “And while they choose to work away, we did not choose for our families to be separated with no end date in sight.”

Mrs Reid is juggling part-time work, full-time study and raising Callum, 14, and Mykala, 13. “Three weeks ago, I had a mental-health episode where I was ready to drop out of uni,” she said.

“To pull yourself out of that for your family is very difficult.”

She said her children being separated from their dad had taken a huge toll on them.

“We’re grateful that our partners have jobs and that we have support networks but we’re merely existing, we’re not living,” she said.

Grandmother ‘helpless’ in country Victoria

Karen Oliver with her grandson Charles who she has not seen for six months. Picture: Supplied

It has been six months since Karen Oliver has hugged her grandson, Charles, and the pain is almost unbearable.

Mrs Oliver and her husband Adrian, who live on a farm at Mansfield, Victoria, usually make the seven-hour drive to Adelaide to visit daughter Alicia, son-in-law Alex and Charles, 2, each month.

Her heartache at not being able to travel into SA because of border restrictions has been exacerbated by being unable to help Alicia, who is pregnant with her second child.

“It’s a high-risk pregnancy and it would have been best if she had bed rest but no one was there to look after Charles,” Mrs Oliver said.

“I just want to curl up and cry and I feel hopeless because there’s nothing I can do, but as a mother you want to do everything.

“I have shed insurmountable tears.”

Mrs Oliver, who also has two sons in Melbourne who she has not seen for three months, said she had applied for an exemption to cross the border but had been knocked back.

“We live in an area where only three people have had COVID-19 and no one has had it for a long time,” she said.

“We’re from the country but we’re treated as if we’re from Melbourne but we don’t have the problems they have.

“I can see it’s (COVID) bad and it’s an enemy and I can see that people have to be careful but when you’re three hours away from the main infections, how can that affect us?”

Mrs Oliver, who has delayed celebrating her 60th birthday until she can be with her children, called for “commonsense” to come into play when making decisions about border rules.

“Everyone’s situation is different,” she said.

“I don’t go to Melbourne.

“I’m happy to stay at my daughter’s house and not poke my nose out the door.

“They can come and check on me every day if they like.”

She said banning her from being able to cuddle her grandson was “just ridiculous” when there were international flights arriving into Australia regularly.

Mrs Oliver said when she is finally able to again cuddle Charles, she “won’t let him down”.

“He’ll have to sleep on me all night.”

Danni with her Mum Helen. (no last names to be used) For ACT SA bubble story

‘Make us a priority’: border battle

By Ellen Ransley

Danni has never gone this long without seeing her mum, and, unless border restrictions between South Australia and the ACT ease soon, she won’t be able to provide much-needed care and support.

She’s putting her faith in Prime Minister Scott Morrison ahead of tomorrow’s National Cabinet meeting, that a bubble between the two states be formed.

Danni left Adelaide for Canberra in February with her partner who is in the army. While she is used to moving around Australia, she has always had the opportunity to head home to see her mum, who has MS, her disabled sister, and her stepdad, who has just undergone intensive surgery after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

There has been no new COVID-19 cases in the ACT in almost two months, and as of Thursday there are no cases in South Australia, prompting Danni to question why she isn’t allowed to go home to support her family.

“I applied for an exemption to travel to SA and to care for them, and they did give me that, but I’d still have to quarantine,” she said.

“So I wouldn’t be able to do their groceries or go to the pharmacy or do anything for my mum and stepdad that they might need.

“It’s hugely frustrating … especially when you hear all these stories about international students potentially coming in and AFL officials flying into Queensland.

“Why do those things get priority over people seeing their families?”

Danni is hoping tomorrow’s National Cabinet will mean she can travel home soon without needing to quarantine.

Currently ACT residents cannot travel to Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia. The last reported case of COVID-19 in Canberra was on July 9.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hinted that he will call for more cohesion and compassion over individual state’s border restrictions, and floated the idea of a hotspot traffic light system.

Danni said the border farce had gone on too long.

“I understood border closures at the start, but not anymore,” she said.

“Canberra is the safest place … States should be rewarded for doing the right thing and sticking it out this long.

“I am an emotionally strong person used to being separated from my family … but I feel mentally and emotionally impacted.

“The priority should be people seeing their families … There has to be a way to get people home.”