Sophie Rohonyi, A Member of Parliament, recently visited the Le Merisier Red Cross centre to meet with the centre's actors and residents awaiting a response on their asylum seeker case.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.More than forty nationalitiesHumanly, it's complicated," says Emmanuel Sindayihebura, director of the Fraipont center. "We are full with over 400 residents right now. We welcome a lot of Palestinians. Then come the Afghans, Guineans, Cameroonians, Russians and Albanians. We also have Syrians, Eritreans, Senegalese,... We currently have more than 40 nationalities represented. We adapt as much as possible to our residents who change regularly despite everything. We have a multidisciplinary team, from different origins, polyglot,... In short, very diverse that allows a broad framework and a policy of proximity. We offer a lot of listening to asylum seekers. With the coaching team but also between them. It is in a climate of conviviality that we organize, for example, groups of words and a council of sages that allows us a real feedback of experiences." With a stay of one and a half years, some residents sometimes stay for several years waiting for a final answer regarding their asylum application. This is the case of the Narghouti couple, originally from Albania. Arriving with their 4 children, including one suffering from severe discrimination related to his autism, they begin their sixth year at merisier this year. Fortunately, their story ends well as they received a positive response on their son's file at the end of January. A light at the end of the tunnel. Will Rania be in this situation as well? Originally from Gaza (one of the two components of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian Territory, along with the West Bank), she arrived in Belgium alone with her five children. Her husband, who lost both legs, had to stay in Ramallah, West Bank, to work. She, too, has been waiting for a response for several months. Sophie Rohonyi is surprised by the delay: "It's really long. Hence the importance of the work carried out by the centre in terms of reception, housing, integration courses, literacy and French, medical care, organisation of transport to schools in the region for children..."Emmanuel Sindayihebura continues: "Children are subject to the school obligation and are therefore enrolled in schools in the region. Adults follow the integration path and can enrol in different workshops and courses. The important thing is to put in place as many things as possible to answer the question: which citizens do we want to have tomorrow?" Integration goes both waysFor the Director, the reception system for asylum seekers is almost schizophrenic: "For example, they are offered to be able to work during the waiting time of their procedure but when they manage to obtain a and wants to open a bank account to receive a salary, it's no. Banks refuse to open an account for "administrative" reasons. It is completely aberrant. We need strong and proactive policies to better integrate asylum seekers. Especially the young people! It is we Belgians who make the citizens of tomorrow. A policy of the extreme right and withdrawal is much more dangerous than a policy of openness! In fact, the asylum seekers will stay with us. It is therefore better to welcome them in the best possible way rather than reject them and make them feel that they are not welcome here. Integration is two-way. It is a global effort by Belgian migrants and citizens. We have to feed on the differences of others because that is what will make us grow as a society. In the area, we organize a lot of things with the locals. Everyone is very happy with these activities. For example, we developed the concept of "Come and eat at my house" where neighbours of the centre come to eat with the residents and then welcome them into their homes for a meal and a convivial evening." For Sophie Rohonyi, it is time to act: "This meeting highlighted many failures of the federal state. We need concrete answers that live up to our moral and international commitments. I will therefore be calling on the relevant ministers in this matter very soon."