By Newsday Reporter Sunday, July 18 2010

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Earthquake refugee Anelie Joseph....

Anelie Joseph, the 25-year-old Haitian national who sought refuge in TT after the January 12 earthquake which devastated her country is still legally in the country.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday on Friday, David Walcott, Communications Officer of the Traditional African National Association (TANA) said that Joseph got an extension on her visa from the Immigration Department.

“She is legally living at the Salvation Army Hostel under the care of TANA. We are making arrangements for her to start English classes because she can only speak French,” said Walcott.

Joseph was detained by Immigration officers at the Piarco International Airport when she entered the country a couple of days after the earthquake.

On the brink of being deported, she was rescued by TANA and the Emancipation Support Committee.

She was released in the custody of a close friend following the intervention of TANA, but was also ordered to pay a $3,000 bond on her release. The bond was eventually paid by the then Member of Parliament for Chaguanas West, Jack Warner.

Khafra Kambon, President of the Emancipation Support Committee, who also spoke with Sunday Newsday on Friday said Joseph’s status is legal at the moment, but there are some other legal issues which needs to be addressed.

“She has proper legal status in the country and that is all that matters at the moment,” said Kambon.

He also said there are no moves to attain TT citizenship status for Joseph at the moment.

“We are looking at other forms of formal residency at this time, but not citizenship,” said Kambon.

Through an interpreter, a Ghanaian friend, Joseph said after the 7.0 earthquake, which claimed the lives of her father Victor Joseph, 55, a truck driver, and her mother Rochelle Loflume, 50, a seamstress, there was no reason for her to stay in Haiti again.

Joseph decided to come to TT after making contact with her close friend, Exantus Gislaine, also from Haiti, who came to Trinidad two days before the quake.

Joseph entered Trinidad after boarding a flight from the neighbouring Dominican Republic. She was detained by Immigration officers at the Piarco International Airport.

“I never travelled before so when I got to Trinidad and they took my passport, sent me to prison and told me I was going back to Haiti, I was scared. There was only one window through which I was able to look through. I have never been in this type of situation before. Nobody was coming to tell me anything,” Joseph recalled in an interview when she first arrived in TT.

Walcott, explained that it was at this point his association intervened where they were able to have Joseph released into the custody of her friend.