Pregnant Kiwi journalist Charlotte Bellis says she has been overwhelmed with offers of help from Kiwis and people from around the world since she went public with her battle to come home and give birth in New Zealand.
At least four people have offered Bellis their MIQ or quarantine hotel vouchers, even though the rules do not allow for transfers.
“It just shows you the heart and empathy that New Zealanders have,” said Bellis, who is 25 weeks pregnant today and due in May. “Like, ‘OK I have a business trip but Charlotte’s pregnant and I want to fill a gap where my Government’s not because it doesn’t make sense’.
“I really appreciate it more than I can say.”
A second country has also offered to help Bellis since her story was published in the Weekend Herald on Saturday.
She cannot name the country for now, but said they are exploring what visas can be offered to her and her partner, New York Times photographer Jim Huylebroek.
“To have another country come forward and say, ‘Let’s try and find some solutions for this’ when they have no responsibility for me, I’m not their citizen, is just a line in the sand of how ridiculous this situation is,” she told the Herald, speaking over the phone from Kabul.
Under growing pressure, the Government emailed Bellis yesterday asking her to reapply for an emergency MIQ spot under a different category, but says her partner will have to make a separate application to enter New Zealand.
Head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) Chris Bunny confirmed officials wrote to Bellis to explain the emergency allocation category for citizens and residents “who are in a location or situation where there is a serious risk to their safety and their only option is to return to New Zealand”.
“MIQ’s emergency allocation process exists for limited situations which require urgent travel to New Zealand within the next 14 days,” he said.
“There are currently 400 rooms per fortnight set aside for those who need to travel urgently. This is a last resort option with a very high threshold.”
A Christchurch native and former Al Jazeera reporter, Bellis filed breaking news stories from Kabul covering the fall of Afghanistan last year after the withdrawal of US forces.
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She discovered she was pregnant on her September return home to Doha, the capital of Muslim-majority Qatar, where it is illegal for unmarried women to be pregnant.
Bellis has been trying to get an MIQ spot to return home since then, failing every single time.
In mid-January she took the extraordinary step of contacting the Taliban to see if she could return. Senior Taliban contacts said yes, and the couple have been in Kabul ever since.
She detailed her struggle in a piece for the Weekend Herald that has since made international headlines.
UK newspaper the Guardian said the New Zealand journalist had to turn to the Taliban for help after quarantine rules prevented her from going home, but also said New Zealand has managed to keep the spread of Covid at a minimum, reporting just over 50 deaths since the outbreak began.
Hong Kong newspaper the South China Morning Post said Bellis’ situation was “striking” amongst those of other citizens stranded abroad that have caused embarrassment for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Government.
Bellis says what’s troubling is that there is no pathway for pregnant Kiwi women to get home to New Zealand, while foreign DJs and athletes were able to.
“We need to step back and look at the ethics of that,” she said.
“What does it say to other pregnant women around the world who are thinking, ‘What am I going to do? I have to fly to Afghanistan so there’ll be a serious risk to my safety and then they’ll consider me? And I have to cause a media storm in the world press to get an email back (from MIQ) and not just be rejected on day one?'”
Bellis is now consulting with her lawyers about applying under the new MIQ emergency allocation category. Her primary concern is health care for herself and her baby after birth.
Asked to comment, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the Government will be announcing changes at the border soon.
He had earlier said Bellis’ case appeared to warrant further explanation at first sight, and officials were checking if the proper process had been followed.
“I’m unable to provide any further comment on MIQ at this stage as a court case against MIQ is being prepared and expected to be heard soon,” Hipkins said.
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