In this episode Manchán speaks with Rosemary from Malawi. Rosemary runs a social enterprise called Dignity Partnership that encourages Direct Provision residents to acquire new skills and set up businesses. Her goal is to expand the enterprise and be able to help encourage and motivate more Direct Provision people. She realises she lost so much of her own confidence when she was in the Direct Provision system and sees so many people suffering from trauma and undiagnosed depression and stress.

‘We don’t know what has happened to these people before they came to Ireland.’ She remembers all the anxieties of being in the system, and knowing that at any moment someone could knock on your door and demand to inspect your room. Now living in a rented house in Mountrath she still feels her  heart pumping when the doorbell rings, thinking  she’s going to receive a letter saying she’s being sent back.

She was born in Malawi, but was raised by her grandmother in Swaziland who was active in local politics and hired people to work the fields for her.

Home Stories was funded by Creative Ireland alongside the county councils of Laois and Westmeath.