Don't be a stranger

Name
Maron Ehata

Place of residence

Manchester

Country of origin

Democratic Republic of Congo

Occupation

Cross Refugee Service; volunteer, Boaz Trust

Maron Ehata, 38, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, arrived here in 2001, but, despite suffering persecution in his homeland, he was refused asylum. After being burgled by his neighbour and left destitute, he appeared at the Mustard Tree, a Christian charity working with the homeless in Manchester. After many trials and tribulations he was finally granted leave to remain in this country. Currently, he is married with a young child and was recently appointed to the post of men’s group co-ordinator with the Red Cross Refugee service.

"It was a hard experience when I moved here because the weather had just changed. I had moved directly from sunny Africa into the British November. It was a shock. We did not have a heater because it was broken. The person I came with decided he would go back because he couldn't be here. I remember I used to cry a lot.

One day my accommodation was broken into. They took every single thing from the house. I had no food, as my voucher book had been stolen, and so I was referred to Mustard Tree.

As soon as I got there, Dave Smith and another worker called Mark saw that I was depressed and asked if they could pray with me. They also gave me soup to eat and some shoes. This moment really brought me back to a belief in God. Then I asked them if they were a church because what I had got from them I did not expect to get from a white society. It meant a lot to me. I had not lost my identity as a Christian. But it had come to a point where I was just someone who anything could happen to at any time. I had not been able to close my eyes and say a prayer.

I came to Mustard Tree every day from then on. As I can speak eight languages, I thought I might be useful to the staff at Mustard Tree and volunteered to help there. 

After starting to volunteer with Mustard Tree, I received a letter from the police saying that they had charged my neighbour with burglary and she had received 134 hours of community service.

Sometime later my neighbour and her son came to where I was working to ask for help. When she saw me she was really shaking. I came to her and said, 'I am here helping people like you so don't worry'. I said, 'I have forgotten the past because I have been forgiven myself'. I then made her and her son a cup of tea. I discovered they were homeless.

I miss Africa. I used to travel around. I miss not being free. It is really really tough. You lose not only years and personal and moral stability, but you lose quite a lot mentally. I was a teacher, but now I just can’t take a pen and paper and say what degree does the heat have to be to separate oxygen from hydrogen.

It is like you are walking in a tunnel without light."