Nauru Burning by Mark Isaacs

Author:Mark Isaacs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
Publisher: Hardie Grant Publishing
Published: 2019-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

7

Alpha and Bravo camps

The Alpha Camp was established in 72 hours, the speedy construction made possible by immigration staff and Transfield staff working 19-hour days. Their work minimised the time spent in the tough conditions of the Dog Pound. According to Helen, the work was so gruelling some immigration staff members cracked under the pressure.

The men were returned to tent accommodation, sleeping on stretcher beds again, seven to ten people per tent. There were four toilets for the 300 or more men. People were taken to the toilets in groups of 20 at a time. Viji complained that sometimes Nauruan guards forced him to clean the toilets. Viji was allowed to shower twice per day, in the morning and the evening, for two minutes at a time; or he could shower once in the day for four minutes. Security checked his ID before showering; if anyone else used his ID he couldn’t shower that day. Viji was in line when one man tried to stay in the shower for longer than the allocated time. The guards dragged him out mid-shower. There were no pedestal fans, no tea, no cups, no razors, no shampoo, no soap. Viji was told that, ‘people are ingesting soap so we can’t give it to you’.

The remaining Salvos assisted the men by smuggling in items like toothbrushes and toothpaste. The Salvos also distributed welfare clothing, what was supposed to be two sets of new clothes for each man to replace all the clothing they had lost in the fire.

Internet and phone equipment had been destroyed in the fire, so men had no internet access and were given 10 minutes every two or three weeks to speak on the phone to their families. The medical facilities were also destroyed. The little medication they had was restricted, so even getting Paracetamol was difficult. Appointment requests took days, and men waited for four or five hours to see a doctor to get two Paracetamol. At first IHMS only treated serious injuries, so when men suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea they weren’t isolated from the rest of the camp like before and they weren’t given medicine. There were only four toilets so the sick men used the same toilets as the healthy.

Smoking was not allowed, and cigarettes weren’t made available to the men. Many of the men had become addicted to cigarettes after arriving in the Nauru RPC. They had come to rely on smoking as a way of coping with stress. To go cold turkey in a high-stress environment was a difficult task. A Salvo called Faruq said that men were begging for smokes, ‘crying wet tears for a cigarette’.

There were no welfare services like before: no English classes, excursions or activities, no gym. The men weren’t allowed to exercise in the camp and they weren’t allowed to leave the camp.

One man summed up the new life as this:

‘I remember tent after tent, building after building, and then, after the fire, tent after tent again. I remember having to start again with nothing.

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