As promised, I am dropping a few lines to let you know about Tessa's last few days in Sydney, in the hope that this will help you and her to solve her problems in the best possible manner.

Although I had spoken to your husband and you at length about Tessa's condition, and despite
my own personal experiences in the past with similar situations, I realize that I had underestima-
ted the extent of Tessa's inability to make rational judgements and decisions about her own
affairs, and it was only on the last day that she was here, on the Friday, that I realized to what ex-
tent she was "unsettled".

As you know, she came last Wednesday from the Family Center she had been staying at in Burwood and told me she wanted to go to Melbourne. I tried my best to dissuade her, or at least
to get her to postpone that trip for a day or two, but she virtually walked out in the middle of my speaking to her. Then she rang me from Melbourne on Thursday morning to say that she had spoken to you and had decided to return to NZ. I was pleased to hear that, and thought at that stage that she had become convinced that she was not able to cope on her own in Australia. I
was shocked, however, when she called me back the same afternoon to say that she did not have enough for her fare back. You had told me that she spent money at an alarming rate, but I never thought she would be reckless enough to travel so far with less than $50 on her and without knowing anyone over there.

Anyway, after she arranged for me to send her a train ticket she said she would come straight to my house in the morning when she reached Sydney. I thought at that stage that I would make a booking for her return to NZ and get her to travel as soon as possible before she changed her mind once again. Unfortunately, as I feared, she did exactly that. On reaching Sydney, she called me from the city to say she did not have any money to get to my place. The day before she said she had $31 with her, so I was very surprised as the fare from the city to my house is only $3.50. She said she had some money in the bank and would wait for the bank to open and then come to my house.

I did not hear from her until about 10.30am when she rang from another station to say "I think I should stay in a backpackers' hostel as I have enough money to pay for one night". (I gather all her fortune at that stage was $16.) I told her quite firmly that she should not do so as the next day she would be left stranded in the city penniless, as before, and she agreed then to come back here. When she arrived about 12.30 she had only her briefcase and two shopping bags, and said she had left her suitcase at the train station as she would go back to pick it up when she found some other "free" accommodation.

She had now decided she wanted to stay in Sydney. I tried to talk to her quite openly about the
fact that she was unsettled and needed medical help. She looked really frightened and insecure, and said she did not want to return to NZ as she did not get on with you and your husband. I suggested to her that she could stay with me and I'd arrange for some treatment for her, but she kept saying "I've got to leave now. I've got to leave now." In the meantime, Abdullah came and spoke to her quite firmly as well, but she insisted on going. We then told her that we were not prepared to help her out financially or to go and pick her up from the city if she got stuck once more. She looked totally lost, and it was quite obvious that she felt trapped and confused. We told her repeatedly: "Tessa, don't leave." She said she needed to be alone to think things through. I offered to go and spend the night at some friend's place and said Abdullah would be at the mosque, so she could be alone here. She refused and just walked out.

Abdullah and I couldn't think what to do when she called us half an hour later from the train station to say she had lost her wallet and could she please come back and stay at my house for the night.
I told her that she was welcome but that she had only two options: either travel to NZ as soon as possible or agree to go with me to a doctor. She could not walk out on us once again to go to another hostel or another city in Australia. She reluctantly agreed, so I told her that Abdullah would come and pick her up. That is when I spoke to your husband and told him that she ought to travel the next morning, and asked him to call and speak to her that night.

When she came back I tried not to discuss the issue of her return directly, but asked her about her luggage and tried to get her to ring the airport and the shipping company. But she seemed to be
in a daze, not wanting to make up her mind about anything. I told her at that stage that you were
not willing to send her any money at all and that I would not lend her any either and that, since she was not entitled to any benefit here, she should travel back as soon as possible.