Campaign of the Week: Reunite Abdi and Saacid
This week’s campaign comes from communityrun.org, which is a ControlShift-powered site run by GetUp! in Australia. CommunityRun allows Australians to start and run campaigns on a variety of issues. One month ago, Joan and Jane, two aid workers, created a petition urging Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison to expedite a ‘last remaining relative visa,’ which would reunite a dying father with a son he hasn’t seen in more than two decades.
Abdi and his wife Fatuma were originally from Somalia, where they and their four children were living when the civil war began in 1991. Abdi and Fatuma lost contact with two of their children as they were fleeing from an attack on their neighborhood. For the next 15 years, Abdi and Fatuma lived in a refugee camp in Kenya. During this time, Fatuma worked for the UN and other NGOs advocating for rights for women. Her work led to the UN resettling them in Australia.
After relocating to Australia, the family found that one of their missing sons was also living in Australia — but one son was still missing. In 2007, the Red Cross was able to locate the missing son, Saacid, at the world’s largest refugee camp in Kenya. Abdi and Fatuma applied for a last remaining relative visa for Saacid, but they have been waiting for approval for more than four years.
Abdi was recently diagnosed with liver cancer and was given three months to live. Because of his deteriorating health, Joan and Jane are asking the immigration minister to use his discretionary powers to allow Saacid to visit his family.
As of last week, Abdi has been moved to hospice care and his health continues to worsen.