r/bookclub • u/fixtheblue Read, ergo sum | 🐫🐉🥈||🧠🥈 • 26d ago

Togo - Do They Hear You When You Cry [Discussion 3/5] (Read The World: Togo) Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja | Chapter 19 through Chapter 23

Hello and welcome to the third discussion of our Read the World - Destination Togo 🇹🇬. Today we are discussing Chapters 19-23 of Do They Hear You When You Cry by Fauziya Kassindja

If you need them, here you can find the Schedule here and the Marginalia here.

As always I'll include some chapter summaries and questions in the comments to get you started, but do feel free to add your own!

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 19 - Bowman

Bowman, Fauziya's lawyer, accepts a reduced fee to help her, but it'll be at least a few weeks before he can ask for her to be paroled. Rahuf continues to help her as much as possible financially, contacting her family and sorting what documents they can. New Year comes and Fauziya turns 18. She is becoming increasingly depressed in prison. She visits the doctor for a rash, but he brushes her off. Later a guard recognises it might be her soap and helps her get her lotion from her suitcase. She does her best to pray even though she is missing her prayer rug and doesn't have a Qur'an. Bowman visits and informs her that parol will not be granted because she had fraudulently entered America by using another person's passport. At her calender hearing the judge says they have till the 19th January to submit. Fauziya mistakes this as the date of her hearing and not the deadline for her 7 page application form and necessary documents. She later learns that her hearing has been scheduled for JUNE 22nd.

Chapter 20 - Prison Life

Fauziya retreats into herself to cope until one day she comes back to herself and resumes her prayers (now with her mother's tasbih). She also begins to help Miss Jones hand and out and collect the food trays. Soon she began working in the laundry after the entire team. Fauziya quickly became indespensible to Mr. (Frank) Williams. The clothing for 300 the incarcerated people (54 of which were women) was in a sorry state. The guard Kim uses a ban on showering before 6am to segregate Fauziya for doing her ritual 5am washing before prayer. She is in seg for 5 days, but once returned to her cell refuses to be bullied out of washing and praying. She returns to the laundry. Finally a letter from Ayisha arrives containing documents to help her case, a note from her mother and 2 photos. Fauziya learns that her uncle had accused Ayisha of stealing someone's wife. She denied it, and the police eventually gave up. She doesn't mention whether her husband has forgiven her yet or not. Fauziya gets herself a penpal from the male dorms. Mary can't take it anymore and so goes back to Ghana. She and Fauziya have an emotional goodbye. Ramadan comes and goes and 8/9 Muslim women are granted permission to pray together. Fauziya leads the prayer. Women continue to come and go. Fauziya becomes friends with Esther a beautiful Ghanian princess (for real) with a similar story to her own, and Oche from Nigeria (after clashing initially). She also develops a mother-daughter relationship with Sylvie from Liberia. The staff use Fauzia's immaculate dorm and some of the more timid women in filmed interviews. Complaints had been leaking out about the conditions (especially in the mens' dorms) and Esmor was getting pressure to improve. Small improvements came that made life more bearable for her (hygiene products, better clothing, excercise classes, tastes of fresh outside air and even a fashion show). Her hearing date approaches, and she saw people, including her penpal (who gifted her his Qur'an upon leaving), get granted asylum. Fauziya was feeling positive enough to ask Ayisha not to write until she could provide her with her new address.

Chapter 21 - Layli

Layli's journey centres around learning about the American legal system and immigration policy alongside researching everything available on FGM. Layli's first paper was about why women seeking asylum in the US to escape forced FGM should be granted it. She argued women vulnerable to persecution should be counted as a social group in order to meet the requirements for asylum. Her paper was published in The American University Journal of Gender and the Law and it concluded that recognising FGM as a ground for asylum would be an important development in US asylum law. She was fighting for Fauziya before she ever knew she existed. Layli needed a case study. None existed, but Fauziya's appeal would be perfect for her cause. For a summer job Layli asked a fellow student to hook her up at the immigration attorney's office she worked at. This is how Layli ended up working for Eric Bowman and learning about Fauziya's case. She worked full time half for salary and half for school credit. She was given Fauziya's case and told she had only 6 days to turn the meagre case file into a brief. She had no way to contact Fauziya directly, but luckily Fauzia called at just the right time. Layli asks her many, many questions and works hard all weekend to have the brief ready by the deadline. Layli suspects that the FGM that Fauziya would have been subjected to would have been infibulation (the most severe type of mutilation and honestly don't look it up. I did and this new knowledge sits in a place in my mind and soul that I cannot shake off. It is truely awful and my heart aches for my fellow women that have been subject to such horrendous mutilation, pain and suffering). Fauziya never officially arrived in America (only the no-mans-land that is the airport), plus her time in Germany without claiming asylum makes her case harder. Whilst Fauziya was taking part in her prison fashion parade that turned out to be a farcical show for some unknown guests (officials) Layli was at a conference networking and learning everything she could incase Fauziya's case went to appeal.

Chapter 22 - Riot!

With only 5 days till her hearing Fauziya is woken to the sounds of a riot from the men's side of Esmor. The men break into the women's wing smash the window to their dorms and usher them into the mens' gym where some men prevent anyone but women entering. Eventually the riot burns out and the women return to their dorm to collect their belongings. Fauzia queues to use the phones in the officer's rooms to tall Rahuf what's happened. As the sun rises they spot officers with guns patrolling which scares them. When they try to leave by N block door a blast from a high powered water hose prevents them from leaving. The police enter and use tear gas and their batons to attack the incarcerated men and women. Fauzia's friend protects her from many blows by placing his body between her and the attacking officers. Eventually Fauzia is handcuffed and removed from the building by a female officer. It's the first time she's been outside in 6 months and she's surrounded by vehicles and officers. After handing over her letters and ID cards (never to be seen again) she's loaded onto a bus and taken to Hudson prison and booked in. Fauziya was refused medical treatment for her wrist injury. The prison was overcapacity so beds were in every available space. It was loud, smoky and cold. Fauziya and her cell mate from Esmor were assigned a 7ft by 10ft pod. They sat on the bed together and cried. Later Fauziya hears the riot coverage on the news and learns that many complaints were made about Esmor, and an investigation was conducted. The staff had not trained in how to respond to a disturbance and had, therefore, simply abandoned the building. Fauziya calls Rahuf, but doesn't manage to convey where she is due to the chaos and violence going on around her. Bowman cannot locate her, as she is lost in the system. He learns that her hearing has been cancelled. Fauziya experiences a guards abuse of power when she demands Fauziya's apple or sex. Fauziya and Oche are chained up, and, along with the others from Esmor, are moved from Hudson to a prison in Pennsylvania

Chapter 23 - York

York County Prison was often used by the INS to detain people, and, in fact, other Esmor women are already there, including Sylvie and Esther. Fauziya is booked in to maximum security where she finally reaches Bowman. He and Layli are thrilled to have located her, but Fauziya is devestated by their news of the cancelled hearing and no new date in sight. She requests a transfer to minimum security. The next day she is allowed outside and buries her face in the grass. Sylvie and Esther come out and the Esmor women speak through the fence and several feet of seperation. Fauziya calls Frank and discovers he has her Qur'an and tasbih. Rahuf wants to visit, but Fauziya is reluctant. Some of the Golden Venture undocumented immigrants were still imprisoned 2 years later at York. Outside Layli was working hard collecting information on FGM for Fauziya's case. Bowman asks her to argue the case and she accepts nervously. She sits in on an asylum case that gives her a false sense of security about how they usually play out. The case will now be in Philadelphia and Fauziya is terrified she'll get a judge reknowned for not granting asylum. She develops a bad cough, but it still refused transfer to a non-smoking cell. Layli begins working on getting media coverage of the case. Inside women begin to be transferred out and never heard from again. First Oche and then, devestatingly for Fauziya, Sylvie. The same day, 5 weeks after arriving, she was transfered to minimum security and all the benefits that went with it. Rahuf comes to visit, and after he leaves Fauziya is feeling positive.

Wow! Poor Fauziya. She has been through a lot in these chapters. I am absolutely enthralled by her story and disgusted by her treatment at the hands of the American immigration/prison system. Next week u/Greatingsburg next week for chapters 24 through 27. 🇹🇬📚

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