Last Australian asylum seekers in Cambodia thank SA group for desperately needed help
A family sent to Cambodia by Australia say generosity from an SA group has saved them after they were “abandoned” without help in a place known for rights violations and corruption.
SA News
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The last Australian asylum seeker “abandoned” in Cambodia has offered his heartfelt blessings to South Australians for keeping his wife and their newborn baby boy off the streets of Phnom Penh.
“I am very, very thankful to them – and bless them, their children, their mothers and fathers,” first-time father Rashid Mohammed, 30, said.
Mr Mohammed is a Muslim minority Rohingya who fled genocide in Myanmar through Malaysia and Indonesia, to Australia in 2013, where he was detained at Christmas Island and then Nauru.
He is the last of 10 asylum seekers transferred from the Nauru detention centre to Cambodia – known for its human rights violations and corruption – in 2015 in a $40m Federal Government deal.
Mr Mohammed said he had received no Australian or Cambodian government support since 2017, remained stateless, and had been denied access to medical aid, education and training. He cannot return to Myanmar and his family has fled to Bangladesh.
He and his wife Taslemah Mohammed, a 31-year-old Rohingya asylum seeker, and their 19-day-old son Rohan live in a one-room community house outside Phnom Penh.
The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the tourism trade Mr Mohammed’s roadside roti business relied on.
“We are lost here and I am worried about our future,” he told the Sunday Mail.
Since February, 15 South Australians, headed by the Adelaide founder of Welcoming Australia, Brad Chilcott, have raised $6000 to support Mr Mohammed and his family.
Mr Chilcott said the funds had paid for rent, food, utilities and medical expenses.
Now the SA fundraising team has started a new campaign to help the family survive over the coming months.
Mr Chilcott said the ultimate goal was to facilitate a costly application process for Canadian community refugee sponsorship.
Kylie Schmidt, a first-time mum to one-year-old Bertie, said she could not imagine going through Rashid’s journey in a foreign country, unsupported by family and friends.
“Hearing the story of Rashid, who feared for his personal safety and so sought asylum in Australia, to then be sent off to a developing country with no income, no community, and no support networks just feels so wrong,” she said.
Amnesty International Australia refugee co-ordinator Dr Graham Thom said that had Rashid stayed in Nauru, he would have been eligible for resettlement in the US and was now no longer eligible for resettlement elsewhere.
A Home Affairs Department spokesman said asylum seekers resettled in Cambodia received comprehensive support, including financial support, healthcare, housing, education and family reunification.