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HOPE: ChrisCummins believesthings will changefor asylum seekers.Picture:JIMALDERSEY

BEKING AJOHN HOLTON speaks with traumacounsellor Chris Cummins about her workwith asylum seekers on Christmas Island.

W HEN Chris Cumminstells people she's spentthe last five years asa torture and trauma

counsellor working with asylumseekers on Christmas Island, they'renaturally intrigued.

As she says, it's a natural humanresponse to be interested in stories ofhuman suffering.

Chris has chosen to speak outabout her experiences - not to dwellon the horrors and grief that so manydetainees have endured, but instead to"re-humanise the demonised"

"Asylum seekers are constantlywearing negative labels," Chris says."Illegals, queue-jumpers, boat-people -their value as people is diminished.

"The only way we can effect change isto hear their stories."

Chris's work as a mental healthnurse has taken her to far-flung places,advocating for the most vulnerable.She was a volunteer nurse in Sri Lankafor 12 months, worked with Afghanrefugees in Iran, and has spent time inremote Aboriginal communities in theKimberley.

Chris jumped at the opportunityto work on Christmas Island, though

nothing could have prepared her for thedepth of suffering or the level of traumaexperienced by detainees.

Around the time of her arrival, aboat of Tamil refugees arrived fromSri Lanka, seeking sanctuary from the30-year civil war. The tragic story of theKumar family is still hard for Chris torelate, even after five years.

"Joseph and Lavinia were a youngcouple travelling with their 10-year-olddaughter, Sylvia," Chris recalls. "In 2009,the Sri Lankan military had attackedtheir refugee camp repeatedly.

"Caught in the middle of the shelling,the Kumars' two youngest children,Mary and Michael, were killed.

"Joseph and Lavinia were forced toleave the bodies of their children lyingbeside countless others, later to beburied in a mass grave.

"The couple both suffered seriousinjuries themselves and spent six weeksapart at different hospitals. Eventuallythey were reunited in a camp hospitaland were offered assistance by thehusband of another patient."

The Kumars' story is horrific, thoughnot uncommon. They were forcedinto hiding in Colombo, sold all theirpossessions to buy passports, evaded

IN LIMBO: A young asylum seeker in detention.Picture: CONTRIBUTED

For many people with anexposure to torture andtrauma, detention justheightens their symptoms.Chris Cummins

the Sri Lankan Army and spent sixmonths as refugees in India, beforespending 24 days at sea in an attemptto reach Australia - the final three ofthose without any food or water. Theysurvived, only to end up at ChristmasIsland. "By far the greatest heartbreakfor this family was the graphic memoryof their children's bodies left behind,"Chris says. "Joseph and Lavinia'sphysical wounds had healed but thesadness was overwhelming.

"As the Kumars were devoutCatholics, I arranged a memorialservice at the local church, and asecond one in the detention centrewhere many more Tamils could attend.

"They had a photo of Mary andMichael and I copied this onto amemorial card with an appropriateprayer. Each person who attended wasgiven the memorial card as they wouldhave done at home in Sri Lanka.

"For the Kumars it was an opportu-nity to mourn, to reflect on the greatsadness they had endured, and to opena pathway to healing."

Not long after, the family wastransferred to Darwin, but were refusedasylum and forcibly deported.

"The Kumars weren't breaking anylaws," Chris says. "It wasn't illegal forthem to seek sanctuary - they weren'tjumping a queue. They were justdesperate people fleeing terror."

The Christmas Island ImmigrationDetention Centre was opened in 2008and originally built to accommodate

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1 1 ' M Ulnnri Imminrntinn Dotnntinn Cantrn Picture: CONTRIBUTED

WITHOUT FE400 people. Chris describes it as "verymuch like a prison" with high-levelsecurity and CCTV monitoring. Indeedthe British company that owns andoperates the centre, Serco, operatesprisons throughout Europe andAustralia. The centre quickly grew toaccommodate 800, then to over 2000 byconverting class rooms and visitor areasinto dorms. By Chris's final year on theisland it was bursting at the seams withalmost 4000 detainees - yet only fourtorture and trauma counsellors.

Chris describes the traumaexperienced by many detainees as"complex" They commonly includeintrusive memories and horrificnightmares, with people oftenfrightened to fall asleep. Grown menexperience bed-wetting as a symptomof post-traumatic stress disorder.

"For many people with an exposureto torture and trauma, detention justheightens their symptoms," Chrisexplains. "Christmas Island is definitelynot a place to heal."

For these clients the team wouldadvocate, using their clinical findings,to the Department of Immigration.The process, as Chris explains, wasincredibly frustrating. "Each week I'dpresent the cases, appealing for peopleto be transferred into communitydetention on the mainland. When I wassuccessful I could link the client intoongoing counselling, but such winswere few and far between. It becameeven harder after the introduction of

the No Advantage policy in 2012, whenit was made blatantly clear there wouldbe no access to Australia if you arrivedby boat." Amid the heartache, therewere small moments of joy when Chriscould have temporary guardianshipof a detainee and do something reallyspecial for them.

One such person was Mohammad,a 31-year-old Sudanese man who hadsurvived arrest and torture beforeleaving his parents, siblings, wife andtwo children in a refugee camp inDarfur to seek asylum in Australia.

"Mohammad had vivid traumaticmemories and lived with theuncertainty of his family's safety backin Darfur. In our counselling sessionshe literally couldn't remember a happyday in his entire life. I took Mohammadand an interpreter out for the day. Iprepared some lovely food, packed realcutlery and crockery - a table cloth fora picnic. We drove around the island,walked in the jungle, and ended up ata lookout. As we gazed across the sea,Mohammad smiled and said, 'Thisis the happiest day of my life; this ishappiness!'

Despite the enormity of the issue,Chris believes things can, and willchange for asylum seekers. "We have tokeep lobbying our policy makers - wehave to jump up and down and makelots of noise. People seeking asylumare no different to you and I. They lovetheir families, they feel pain. Theydeserve a life free of fear."

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SPRAWLING: The Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre. Picture: CONTRIBUTED