feminine feminist

On welcoming people to our country...

I'm currently supping a coffee in Dublin airport after missing my bus to Belfast. I met a beautiful young woman from Egypt on the plane and in broken English we became - in her words - friends. She gave me a photo of she and her husband on what looked like their wedding day. She spent most of the flight checking her head scarf and make up whilst I drooled beside her and snorted at the film 'Dodgeball'. We exchanged numbers and I told her should come and visit Belfast. She asked me to help her get through the airport. All was well....

This changed when we got to immigration. The lady was suspicious of her and in being unable to establish a clear reason for her entering the country- is she married already? Betrothed? - warned me that I could be considered an accomplice if it all went wrong. I watched and waited as she smiled and looked at me, bright with hope at seeing her husband. Finally, she was through, with temporary status and an instruction to report to the polic station when her time expires. Will she? Should she? All I know is that the reunion moment which I embarassedly watched before she said goodbye with a huge hug, was a beautiful one.

posted by Feminine Feminist @ 7:59 AM