Both Anna and Francis Chikasha help British people to live independent lives. Anna is employed by Cumbria Social Services to give elderly people the support they need to go on living in their own homes rather than move into care homes. The warmth of her enthusiasm for her work radiates from her as she talks of ways in which pensioners she serves have, with the help of day care, respite care, occasional residential care, and nursing, which Anna and her colleagues can help to provide, stayed on their own two feet in houses they have known all their lives. Independence is the message. "We don't decide for them or direct them," she asserts firmly. "We facilitate them, put them in a position where they can make their own decisions." She is so pleased that she has an important part to play in the community which welcomed her when she came from Zimbabwe four years ago.
Francis is also a care worker, employed by United Response to support young adults with learning difficulties. His work is principally focused on two small families in Hensingham, giving them the information they need to make informed decisions, and he finds that they will very gladly ask him for advice. Step by step, they too are able to integrate with the community.
Anna and Francis are very happy to be living on Gulley Flatts Estate. It is a nice place for everyone to live in, and they do their best to keep it that way. Anna actively supports John Stables in his work for the Neighbourhood Watch, helping to keep good order and provide amenities and outings for the people who live there.
As professional workers serving Britain they are neither asylum seekers nor economic migrants, but their contribution to the local community throws into stark relief the plight of thousands of their compatriots from Zimbabwe whose claims for asylum are, according to some reports, in danger of being rejected. We believe that while the Government is quite right to keep a firm control on immigration, it has a duty to provide a refuge for those who are fleeing persecution. It is simply nor credible to assert that people with close links to opposition figures in Zimbabwe can quite safely return to the mercy of one of the most repressive and tyrannical regimes in the world, one that has subjected their opponents to torture and smashed the homes of communities that dared to vote for opposition parties. Those who share our disgust at the possibility of sending asylum seekers back to Zimbabwe should write to Jamie Reed, who has strong human rights sympathies, asking him to convey their views to the Home Secretary and Prime Minister. You will be pushing at an open door because Jamie has already asked the minister responsible for clarification and agrees with us that it is essential to uphold the Labour Party’s proud history of fighting for the poor and marginalised of society. We must never sacrifice humanity for the sake of appeasing the angry god of prejudice.
Our photo shows Anna and Francis at home.

Peter Watson