A Filipino nurse living in Belfast for 23 years has said he is living in fear for the first time after a week of racist violence erupted in the city.
GP nurse Aldrin Bañas (53) first came to Northern Ireland with his wife (also a nurse in the Mater Hospital) after a major recruitment drive from the Blair government for overseas workers to prop up the health service.
Aware of Belfast’s sectarian divisions, they still took a leap of faith to build their life and family in the city.
A long-time member of the Saint Vincent de Paul Church in Ligoniel, where many of Northern Ireland’s Filipino community attend, Aldrin spoke to the Irish News alongside parish priest Fr Vincent Cushnahan.
He said that many of his friends have had their cars smashed over the last week, eggs thrown at their windows and experienced verbal abuse.
“This thing, it’s like a sleeping giant and then it’s there. We are surprised by how much hate there is out there,” he said.
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“When you’re just walking, you’re being shouted at with words that stick in your head.
“You just come home and cry about it. It’s really sad. Even if you’re wearing the NHS uniform, you don’t get the respect.”
Aldrin said he and his wife now feel forced to spend their free time indoors, robbed of the peace of mind to go out and socialise.
“We work Monday to Friday and our weekends are supposed to be to relax. Now it’s like the pandemic again, we’re staying home. It’s not fair.”
Their two daughters work in England’s health service, an immunologist and an examiner for the nursing and midwifery council, where the disorder has also played out across multiple cities.
“One of my daughters was in the hospital in Sunderland where nurses were having stones thrown at them coming in to help relieve the hospital from shortage of staff,” he said.
“Imagine when your daughter sends you that message from England to Northern Ireland. You think ‘why did I bring my family here’?
“I’m already 53 and closer to retirement, so now we face a big question. Should we stay or should we go?”
Fr Cushnahan said that over the last generation, his church community has grown to include people from the Philippines, India, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
“They set up their homes, send their children to schools and work very hard in our healthcare,” he said.
“I sense for the first time, a genuine and palpable fear among folks from overseas who are working here.
“Aldrin’s son is Northern Irish, his daughters work in England. Many of them are of a second generation.
“They’re born here, go to school and find their first boyfriends or girlfriends here. They socialise, for them this is home.”
Aldrin continued: “What hurts us the most is that we were the people that went the extra mile during the pandemic.
“We were the heroes, now we’re becoming targets. You have no idea how many of my friends have had their cars smashed and this has been unreported.
“Filipinos are not just Catholics and Christians. I have Filipino Muslim friends and now they’re afraid to wear their hijab working at work.
“It’s the same feeling we had after 9/11 among our Muslim brothers and sisters. It’s wrong.”
On Friday, a joint statement on behalf of all HSC employers and trade unions spoke out against the “horror, significant unrest, violence and racist attacks” within the community.
“We support a Zero Tolerance policy when it comes to any form of abuse of our workforce, who work tirelessly to care for the entire community in Northern Ireland,” the statement read.
Promising robust action in any cases of abuse, they extended their solidarity and appreciation to international workers and offered support to any feeling vulnerable and worried in the coming days.
“It is important that we are united as a Health and Social Care community in support of all our colleagues, promoting respect for equality and diversity and opposing all forms of racism.”
