Matthew and Liesl Visit Cyprus
It was a happy day October 9th when Matthew and sweet Liesl arrived in Larnaca for a week-long visit. It's a long haul from Seattle-Frankfurt-Larnaca. At the same time when we went to the airport for Matthew's arrival we also delivered our friend Alie Dumbuya to the airport. He had been a member of our branch for some time. He had come from Sierra Leone about three years ago seeking asylum. He had a myriad of problems with employment, housing, denial of asylum, etc. In the end he voluntarily declared to the Cypriot government that he wanted to return home. In doing so he will never again be allowed to seek asylum in a EU country. He was also provided a plane ticket home and 1500 Euro once on the plane. We had some brief contact with him once he arrived and was with his sister. He seemed very content to be there. Certainly, we're hopeful that things will work out for him, though so many asylum seekers vow they will never ...