Making a difference: working at Freedom from Torture.

Abstract

Did you become a doctor to make a difference? Many of us did. I work as a volunteer at Freedom from Torture seeing clients seeking asylum who say they have been tortured. I spend many hours with them, hearing their stories and examining their minds and bodies for the evidence that torture may have left. That is the short version. But this is what it’s actually like. The building is an airy, friendly, multinational space, with a water feature and a bleached wooden floor. In my room I read the Home Office papers on my client including their screening interview on arrival here. ‘Where are you from?’ ‘What did you pay for a space on the dinghy?’ ‘Which way did you come?’ This is followed by a more detailed interview with an immigration officer. With no papers, people have to prove their nationality: ‘Which countries border yours?’ ‘Whose picture is on the bank notes?’ I wonder, suddenly, if I could …