Direct Provision: ‘There is no privacy...it’s very difficult’

A hotel room has been home for Gerald, (32), and his family for the past seven years.

It was okay when he shared it with just his wife. But now that his daughter is growing up fast, it can feel like the walls are closing in.

He worries about what impact these cramped living conditions, with little access to play or recreation, will have on her.

“It’s very difficult,” he says. “She is growing up . . . What me and my wife do, my child imitates. Be it positive or negative. Everything. She sees everything. If she had her own room, that would be fantastic . . . but there is no privacy.”

He also frets that his daughter has never seen her parents cook a meal or provide for themselves. Instead, life is measured out according to institutional routines.

“You wake up, you go to breakfast at a certain time, you go to lunch at a certain time, and dinner at a certain time . . . That’s very difficult for a person with two hands who believes they can cook and provide for their family.”

There are also dangers for children living in shared accommodation with other families.

Single-parent families are often required to share with strangers, while in many cases teenage sisters and brothers are required to share one room.

The numbers aren’t a surprise to Gerald, who worries about his daughter’s safety. “People there come from different nations, different cultures, different notions of how you discipline your children,” he says. “You don’t know their backgrounds. Maybe one of them is an abuser? You don’t know the next person... it’s a real concern.”