Emeline Yuwono used to tear up pieces of paper. She'd just shred them. Shred them. Over and over and over again. It's just one of the behaviours you see with kids who have autism – they might be obsessive about that one particular thing. And the great thing with early intervention is that sometimes those destructive behaviours can be channelled into something else.
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That's what happened to Emeline. Just over a year in a special school and she's improved so much. She now has a few words. She waves wide white ribbons and watches the patterns. She's even toilet-trained now and every single parent of a child whose disability makes that tough will know exactly how wonderful it is when you no longer have to change the nappy of a 10-year old. But now her mother fears that all this will be lost.
Mei Tieng Lim is not a refugee. She is not in any queues. She's not in a camp or in a detention centre. But she will soon be deported, along with 11-year-old Emeline, unless the Minister for Immigration is merciful – and God knows, that seems unlikely in the current circumstance.
I know she took risks. I know she hasn't followed the usual pattern of applying for a visa. But if it had been my kid – I would have taken the same risks.
Here is her story.
Mei is 46 now and a cleaner at a church in Sydney. She grew up in North Sumatra and was one of five children, the youngest girl; and education wasn't considered all that important. All the work she ever did was selling rice, door-to-door. In 1999, she attracted the attention of a agency which was recruiting guest workers for the US from Indonesia and found herself in Philadelphia, working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The money was appalling by our standards but for her, $6 an hour was a huge improvement on her village life. And while in Philadelphia, she met another guest worker, a young man also from Indonesia.
Two years later they returned to Indonesia and married. Two years after that, Emeline was born. Then the problems began. It took a while for Emeline's disability to become visible, and then to be diagnosed. She walked and ran ok but both parents could see she wasn't developing, wasn't making sounds, wasn't able to express what she needed. The anger and frustration destroyed the marriage.
And looking after Emeline while trying to keep paid work was near impossible. There was no family support of any kind and Mei was forced to ask an orphanage to take her daughter while she went looking for work. When she returned each week, she would find her darling covered in scabies and lice, unkempt and unclean. Mei's heart was breaking.
She tried to move to Canada. With Emeline's medical record, that country wouldn't take her so she decided to take a huge risk.
I doubt it will pay off because of our current punitive behaviour towards those in need but I'm praying for a miracle. Mei needs it. Emeline really needs it.
Mei found a travel agent who could arrange a holiday visa to Australia. It's very difficult for someone in Mei's situation to get such a visa. After all, most of our overstayers come by plane and not by boat. But she had friends at the agency and the visa appeared.
A month later, mother and daughter found themselves in Sydney at a backpacker's hostel. Within a few weeks, she had lodged a protection visa but that was knocked back by the Refugee Review Tribunal. Her lawyers knew she wouldn't qualify but thought this would be the best way to get to the minister. They hoped against hope that someone would take pity on her but the minister knocked her back. Then she applied for a medical treatment visa for both herself and Emeline. That was also knocked back. Now she is appealing to the minister again.
There is no doubt she is leading a more comfortable life in Australia. Her cleaning job is better than the minimum wage and the other members of her church support her. She's made friends in the Indonesian diaspora and with locals. And that's no more than you'd expect of such a warm woman.
But far more seriously, the transformation in Emeline is astonishing. From a child who couldn't go to the toilet by herself, who ripped paper endlessly, who could barely acknowledge anyone, she can now look you in the eye, twirl ribbons and take herself off to the loo.
If you are a parent, you know how much all of this matters.
Did she do the right thing? By migration law? No. By Emeline. Most definitely.
Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Let's hope that Peter Dutton finds forgiveness in his heart too.
Twitter @jennaprice or email jenna_p@bigpond.net.au
