Couple subject to deportation order are granted asylum status

It may have taken seven and a half years, but David and Fortunate Nesengani are “over the moon” to have been granted asylum to remain in Ireland, and are currently making plans to build a new life in their adopted home town of Athlone.

The couple, David, who hails from South Africa and his Fortunate, who is a native of Zimbabwe, have been living in the Direct Provision Centre in Lissywoolen since their arrival in Ireland and are extremely grateful to the many people from Athlone and from all around the country who mounted a high-profile campaign to have a deportation order which was imposed on the couple revoked.

The campaign, which began just before Covid hit in March 2020, was spearheaded by the Students Union in the former Athlone AIT (since renamed as Technological University of the Shannon TUS), where both David and Fortunate were studying at the time.

The campaign, which was also strongly supported by the Chaplain to the Athlone IT, Fr Shay Casey, and attracted widespread media attention both locally and nationally, was backed up by an online petition which attracted thousands of signatures.

David Nesengani has completed a BA in Applied Social Studies in Social Care, while Fortunate has completed a BA in Social Care. The couple wish to make their future home in Athlone and in an interview with Athlone Community Radio last week they publicly thanked the many people who helped them to secure the right to remain in Ireland.

David told the programme that it is “quite impossible to change things just by yourself” and added that it was hard to keep “hope and faith” during the long years in which the threat of deportation cast a shadow over his life. “To live a Stateless life is very depressing, you just feel more traumatised,” he added.

He said the actions of Irish people “coming together” to plead on behalf of himself and his wife was what resulted in “change happening for us” and for that he said they would be “forever grateful.”