Donations are being sought in Guam for refugees that are being detained in Yap in Micronesia.(Photo: Pacific (Guam) Daily News)
HAGATNA, Guam — More than 30 asylum seekers from India and Nepal
have taken refuge on a tiny Pacific island since late last year and are still detained there amid dwindling supplies, a resident says.
The 34 men arrived on Colonia in the Yap Islands, about 500 miles southwest of Guam, in November 2014 after setting sail with the goal of escaping political conflict in their homelands, according to Karemeno Ifa, a pastor at a Seventh-day Adventist church in Yap.
“They want to seek a place where they can be comforted,” he said.
The men had possibly intended to sail to Australia, Ifa said, but drifted toward Yap in Micronesia. Yap has a total land area of about 39 square miles and its population in 2000 was about 11,000 people.
USA TODAY
Air Force brings unlikely Christmas to remote Pacific islands
The men lacked food and water when they arrived, and some didn’t have identification.
While they at first were allowed to venture freely around the island, after about two months, they were advised to stay near the port where they had landed and are still being detained there, Ifa said.
The island has provided free water for the men to shower, but they live without electricity under a roofless structure and use the same dirty blankets, Ifa said.
“When it rains, it comes down on them,” Ifa said. “They don’t have enough food. Food is scarce.”
Ifa, who was visiting Guam for a meeting with local Seventh-day Adventist members, informed the
Pacific Daily News of the refugees in hopes the island would band together to donate supplies.
The Yapese are generous people, Ifa said, “but they cannot give if they can’t afford to give.”
Ifa said his church donated food items such as rice, canned meat, chicken and flour, but the church doesn’t have enough resources to sustain the men on a regular basis.
Yap’s assistant attorney general, who is heading the case, didn’t respond to calls and an email seeking comment.
Powered By WizardRSS.com |
Full Text RSS Feed
