Freedom on the Horizon written by Maria-Elena Heed

I woke up early that morning to feed my baby before heading off to the ACNUR’s office (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).

We were meeting Zulema, the person in charge of our case. She was going to update us on our asylum applications, one of the countries we had applied to was the UK. 

The letter of acceptance consisted of a country offering asylum to Chilean refugees. We were aware that it could be months before we would hear the outcome of any applications.

Mario, my husband at the time, was a student in Chile before the coup d'etat. He had been studying Geology and had planned on becoming a miner engineer. His desire was to continue in the area of geology in whichever country we moved to. We were aware that some UK universities offered study programmes with geology subjects. 

In preparation,Zulema had forwarded Mario's name to the WUS (World University Service) in the UK which had study grants available.

Zulema was a middle aged woman, softly spoken, compassionate and supportive. She was invaluable to us throughout the process.

We lived on the other side of Buenos Aires and the journey to the UN offices involved two buses. We joined the long queue of people at the bus stop and hoped there was enough space for everyone to get on the bus. A kind lady offered her seat for me me and my baby. The bus was overloaded with people. It was hot and stuffy and men were hanging out of the bus with no awareness for their own safety. The buses were unreliable and always ran late, as a result they were uncomfortably overcrowded. 

We had done this journey many times before, but this time we felt it would result in good news. We talked about what it would be like to live in a different country, in a house with just the three of us, not sharing with strangers. We would face the challenge of a different language and a different culture. 

When we arrived at the UN offices, Zulema was waiting for us with a hopeful smile. We sat down and waited in anticipation. This could be the day that our lives changed forever.

Zulema gave us the news that we, along with other families, were being accepted into the UK. 

In 1977 we flew to Heathrow Airport overwhelmed with happiness to leave behind the oppression, persecution and aggression we had lived with for four long years. 

We were to be subsumed, with other Chilean families, into British culture.

We were pleasantly surprised to see people waiting for us at the airport with information about where we would be going. We were welcomed with open arms to the UK and felt peace of mind and security.

The UK was the country that I now called home.