For Samanthi, freedom came with a clock attached—a slow, relentless ticking of days that turned into decades. In 2004, life in Sri Lanka became too dangerous. She paid an agent to help her family escape to Hong Kong, where people could enter the country on a 30-day visa, enough time to register with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as asylum seekers. The UNHCR placed them in a small apartment with a kitchen and bathroom, and provided money for food and transportation.
About a year later, Samanthi’s family was placed in the care of the Hong Kong International Social Services, which provided food allowance, hospital care, and some financial assistance. The support came with a giant condition. Every two weeks, the entire family had to report in person to the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s Enforcement and Torture Claim Assessment Branch. They did this for twenty years – more than 520 trips. The Wait for a country willing to offer them citizenship was not idle; it was an active ritual.
The Wait looked like this:
- Register with UNHCR.
- Undergo an interview with the Hong Kong Immigration Department’s Enforcement and Torture Claim Assessment Branch.
- Hope to be among the 1% accepted for resettlement in a third country.
- Get rejected. Appeal to the High Court.
- Wait for judgment and inevitably return to step two.
- Repeat….for two decades.
Samanthi was a woman of strength with talents to offer—but nowhere to offer them. Each year that her children grew older, so grew Samanthi’s worry. Her children were not allowed to work, and higher education would be out of reach. Government funding was never enough. Not for the rent, nor the water or electricity bills. Samanthi went to churches, NGOs, and even strangers for help. She learned how to live at the mercy of others.
She learned English and improved her cooking skills by volunteering at a not-for-profit that offered her much-needed free mental health counselling. The stress was unrelenting. The Wait was heavy. She needed structure, purpose, and forward motion.
In 2017, she discovered RUN, a Hong Kong-based not-for-profit organization that supports vulnerable refugees, particularly women, in building resilience and nurturing self-reliance for a more hopeful future through sport and education. Samanthi joined RUN’s Hike to Heal program. On her first hike, she lagged behind the group and returned with her body aching, unable to sit for days. However, she returned the next week and managed to hold her own on the next hike. Eventually, she became one of the volunteer leaders of the program, motivating others to complete 100km treks.
Her RUN backpack, hat, and water bottle became the armour she needed to put one foot in front of the other, a quiet declaration of strength. Each step she took was for the sake of her children. She wanted them to see her steady, strong, and determined. She could not change the rules of her life, but she could shape how she lived within them. In the mountains, she released her pain. Every kilometre was a new milestone, evidence that she could still grow, improve, and endure. On those hikes, she spoke her mind, shared her feelings and let her prayers fly unchallenged into the trees and wind. The forest answered with colourful butterflies, chirping birds, and the sound of life—each offering her space to be.
In 2024, twenty years after arriving in Hong Kong, The Wait ended. RUN shared the news: Samanthi’s family had a Canadian sponsor. They were going to Canada. They would become people with equal rights and full access to work, education, and healthcare. Samanthi remembers the interview with the Canadian consulate that followed: “Who is going to sponsor you?” they asked. She answered, “JIAS,” and spelled it out proudly, “J-I-A-S.”
Samanthi and her family just marked their first anniversary in Canada. Freedom is a powerful word when you have not had it in so long. Some days it feels impossible to grasp. Not every day is easy- yet. On difficult days, she grabs her backpack, water bottle, and hat—her symbols of perseverance—and walks the trails until she is transported back to the beauty and sounds of nature that give her the strength to continue moving forward, one step at a time.
