I Don’t Know How to Get Myself Home
The Australian Embassy in the Hague, N.L.
30,000 plus Citizens still stranded abroad…
Coronavirus, Pandemic, 12th Nov 2020.
My inspiration in writing this piece stems from the uncertainties that this year’s Pandemic has brought upon me & many of us still stranded abroad & still waiting for that one opportunity to return home.
As for myself contrary to my last post which was my first ever published piece on Medium, titled ‘‘This Is My Story’’ posted on the 17th Sep 2020. I stated that I had lost my job as a Professional Tour Driver & being unemployed. Also talked about house sitting & living rent free on a friend’s houseboat in Amsterdam. And for being grateful to have been granted access to my pension fund I desperately needed. Something I never had contemplated in doing prior reaching that tender old retirement age of 67.
At the time of my first posting. I didn’t feel obligated to announce myself as being stranded in comparison to the stories of other stranded people I had been reading about. Admittedly, two months onward I still have ongoing love & support from my partner, family & friends & I still have a place to live. But my financial situation has rapidly started to decline to a point that now feelings of being stranded myself is becoming more of a reality being truly left behind while the rest of the world carry on with their lives.
I am currently still unemployed…My Industry in Tourism & Transport, has collapsed. And I could be facing a whole new Career Path at, age 51…
My limitations of finding work here in the Netherlands within my Industry as a Professional Driver is very much the meaning. Not only does my inability to speak Dutch limit my chances, but also the ramifications influenced by this crisis that continue to shut down Industries and close business’s which provide for it. Will make it difficult to find employment even for the Dutch speaking citizen. The three Governments who have rejected my requests for support benefits despite my eligibility as a taxpayer to that Country, respectively. Will make for difficult times ahead if forced to continue living here well into 2021.
So how would I support myself if I were to become completely stranded well into the following year 2021…?
A little ray of sunshine had brightened the sitting rooms of Australian viewers recently. When Australia’s P.M had publicly announced on National TV. Saying he has raised the entry cap allowing for more Australians to enter the Country per week. And has promised he’ll organise repatriation flights reassuring all Australians back home before Christmas. When I look at this from a real-life situation & the gathering of real time stories, I’ve been hearing about could well be just another set of broken promises.
According to my Facebook Remove the Cap Support Group, being one of many out there, which has over 2000 stranded members & climbing. This task force mission set by the Government is not believed to be an achievable goal according to the many members there. Simply because we haven’t been hearing about it consistently enough in the developments which makes me believe that a substantial amount of publicity has not been widespread throughout various platforms of the media. As for many of us nowadays we are expected to rely upon various media tools & the Governments who issue the information do assume that we’re all using it to source the information that is given to us in order to keep ourselves well informed. But if there’s no relevant information to be found how can I/we be thinking positively of the prospects of being onboard a promised flight home.
A few simple questions that I still struggle finding an answer for is. What are the dates & times that have been scheduled to depart for Australia? And from which airports will they be departing from? Am I on the stranded passenger list?
The Australian Embassy’s from around the world should be given more responsibility & transparency to communicate the discussions &/or decisions that are being made back home by the Australian Government to the citizens directly affected, as well, as making it their duty of call in keeping us well informed. Because in my experience there is little assurance & a limited amount of support that’s being given when dealing directly or indirectly with the main office of the Embassy. I can state with confidence that my communications with the Australian Consulate office here in the Hague over recent months haven’t achieved any positive outcomes in providing me with any useful points of information. Obviously, I don’t think the staff are to be blamed for this as they can only advise according to what has been advised of them in their role.
A most recent email reply received on the 6th Nov 2020 from the Consulate here in the Hague where I expressed concerns of my current financial situation. Had, not only addressed the email with…
Hello There,
We are not able to reply to you individually. Your enquiry is answered with the below information.
But had also outlined & stated that registering your details with the D.F.A.T does not guarantee a flight home. It only helps to inform the Consular in knowing where Australians are still overseas, being their words. Well, it makes me wonder whether they’ve gathered the numbers of Australians still overseas through poor distribution of information. Or through the newly launched ‘Remove the Cap’ website founded & independently funded by Pieter Van Helen & the kindness of the general public who have been helping to support it. Moreover, when I have either called or sent an e-mail to the Australian Embassy here in The Hague requesting for any information concerning these flights. I am told to keep my eyes & ears open…What is that supposed to mean?
I know how to cross a road…However, throughout my professional career successfully navigating & transporting passengers around Europe as a Tour Driver. I am embarrassed to admit that I don’t know how to get myself home…
Fact to be known, is that my partner had been advising me to register my details with the D.F.A.T. since May 2020 as it was mentioned on an Australian T.V. episode of Questions & Answers he had been watching in Sydney at the time. But through all my attempts to register myself here at the Hague. I had only been successful enough to subscribe to their newsletters. It wasn’t until the 6th Oct 2020 via newsletter that I finally had the chance to register. Meanwhile, Amnesty Australia have been providing more informative points of information including a registration page which I filled out on the 19th, Sept 2020.
I had always thought that having an Embassy representative of your Country on foreign land was to provide help & support of its citizens in times of need. Kind of a big brother for support, a second family that understands your language & that makes you feel at home. Not just an office that provides you with leaflet information & advice that mostly leads you to a dead-end leaving you feeling very much alone & I would assume for some people even scared & afraid.
We have the web & social media for that. We, the stranded people of this World, with no reason & no fault of our own as to why we’re stranded. Should be given full disclosure rights of any developments that are /are not, currently in political discussions relevant to our situation. In general, if you make a promise to someone, you keep that promise. Not forbid that person of their rights of having any knowledge of whatever it is that’s led to that promised in question. One must think that we’ve been held against our will by the Governing bodies who are preventing us/we the people our right to return home.
My quest to continue my search for the answers to my few short questions. Will continue until I find myself boarding a plane…! It’s very disappointing to learn that a governing body representative of one’s foreign nation. Are not able to provide any level of prosperity of getting home.
In my opinion, I feel it’s fair to say that the necessary, but over exaggerated extreme measures the Australian State & Federal Government has utilized in preventing the further spread of the Virus from entering the Country. Has failed considerably. Why? Because the various Caps that have been set in place from the onset of the Pandemic & that are currently in place. Have been so restricting, that not only, has it prevented the further spread of the Virus from entering the Country. But has potentially spread the Virus to a recorded number of 30,000 plus of its Citizens of a supposedly 100,000 that is believed to be abroad.
My hypothesis on this matter, is that the Australia Government can indirectly be held responsible for infected over 30,000 of its own Citizens. A prevention act that has most Australians proudly boasting to the World of their efforts in achieving zero recorded cases for the first time since the onset. Shouldn’t be something to be boasting about because you’ve forgotten about the other 30,000 plus Australians that could suddenly spike the numbers due to a Governments stupidity in racing for the checked flag. Had the Australian Government been more proactive in deriving a solution to carry out a successful mission & keeping the Caps aside, meanwhile, we had all arrived back home. Had this been the course of action from the very beginning. Thirty thousand plus lives would be that of a healthier state of mind & seeing myself currently at work behind the wheel of a Bus earning an income.
Had the 30,000 plus Australian’s been already home. We could’ve all been toasting together…
Instead, I’m facing a grim future that has already put a strain on my Retirement Pension money. An estimated total of $80,000 AU will not be waiting for me at age 67, as it will have depreciated by the amount of interest charged according to the amount that I have been forced to withdraw early in order to sustain a living that I hadn’t contemplated in having, but forced to be having lived, against my will.
