In a small house in Melbourne’s outer north-west suburbs, Elizabeth Dau spends almost every day sitting on a rug on the floor crying out for her youngest daughter.
Margaret Akima Garang was just 22 when she died on 31 July during a trip to Adelaide.
For the past month, her mother has been trying to cross the Victoria-South Australia border to get to her. It is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She says she hasn’t slept for more than a couple hours at a time since her daughter’s death.
“I just want to bury my daughter. How can I sleep? My daughter is just laying in a freezer in an office like someone who doesn’t have parents,” the 47-year-old told SBS News.
Elizabeth Dau with her grandchildren Isaac and Mary. Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
The family is originally from South Sudan. Elizabeth came to Australia in 2004 as a widow with three young children; Ayen Garang, then 13; Garang Garang, nine; and Margaret, seven.
Her husband died from an infection related to a gunshot wound he suffered as a soldier fighting in the Sudanese Civil War. The family spent seven years in a refugee camp before they came to Melbourne.
Margaret’s trip to Adelaide was supposed to be her last hurrah with friends before she began her law degree, but a few weeks in Adelaide turned into a few months after the coronavirus pandemic broke out.
The Dau-Garang family in a refugee camp in Kenya in 1999. Source: Supplied
“She loved to meet people, she loved to be friendly, she wants to be a lawyer too. She was very smart,” Elizabeth said.
In mid-July, Margaret fell ill and was admitted to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with acute liver failure. The family had no prior knowledge of any existing medical condition.
Her sister Ayen, 29, obtained permission to enter the state to see her, but Margaret died just hours before they could be reunited.
Elizabeth is unable to read or write in English, so she has relied on family members to apply to SA Health and South Australia Police of her behalf to enter the state.
Margaret Akima Garang was only 22 when she died. Source: Supplied
A return email from South Australia Police on 11 August stated: “if you need to travel urgently please proceed to the border where you can apply for interim approval”.
She flew to Adelaide the next day with her two grandchildren, Ayen's children, and was picked up by police and taken to a hotel to await further direction.
But she says without explanation officers arrived the next morning to escort her and the children back to the airport.
That evening, she says she received a phone call from South Australia Police, who were allegedly unaware she had been returned to Melbourne.
Ayen, Margaret and Garang becoming Australian citizens. Source: Supplied
South Australia Police did not respond to a request for comment from SBS News.
SBS News understands more than 6,000 travel exemption applications made to SA Health are on the waiting list.
Elizabeth has applied eight times to cross the border, with every application including hospital certificates, doctor letters, and proof of negative COVID-19 test results.
She says she doesn’t want to blame anyone, she just wants to farewell her daughter.
“They say there is a lot of people who are on the waiting list for an exemption [to travel], but why am I waiting so long, why don’t they let me put my daughter in the ground so my daughter can rest?”
President of the South Sudanese Community Association of Victoria, Ring Mayar, says he is worried about the family’s mental health should the situation continue.
Ring Mayar fears for the family's mental health. Source: SBS/Abby Dinham
Elizabeth has already had a traumatic life, he says, and losing a daughter and being made to wait to bury her could be more than she can bear.
“It has added more pain and more suffering and more depression and anxiety for the family," he said.
"It’s really hard, they don’t know how to deal with this situation.”
Elizabeth's cousin Michael Dau lives in Adelaide and is lobbying the health authorities on her behalf.
He says the most frustrating thing is that each rejection only states ‘application denied’ without further explanation.
“It’s really been hard for us, with COVID 19 now no one can visit. Elizabeth is alone with the kids, she’s very lonely. She calls me at night and I try to counsel her.”
He says visiting is an essential component of South Sudanese burial rites. Traditionally, family members will come together to grieve for a week and pray over the deceased.
Goy Leek and Michael Matiop have been lobbying on behalf of the family. Source: SBS/Sam Okely
Elizabeth's other cousin, Goy Leek, says as part of Dinka culture, Margaret should have been buried weeks ago in the presence of her mother and immediate family.
“Culturally, and I believe it is naturally conducted as well, family has to be buried when all immediate family is there. So it has been extremely difficult to arrange a burial or even approach the coroner,” he said.
SA Health would not comment on the family's case, instead issuing this statement: “Travel exemptions are considered on a case by case basis and take account of local epidemiology including evidence of community transmission”.
A spokesperson from the office of South Australian Health Minister Stephen Wade said: “The minister doesn’t involve himself in the exemptions process to ensure decisions are made by the public health experts and are not politically influenced”.
