Figure 9: The inside of a cell at the airport detention facility. As some of these (international) visits were announced or somewhat expected, the coverup of the reality of daily life inside detention centres was not a rare event. In my capacity as an NGO practitioner for nearly two years, I had seen detention centres being emptied of detainees, carefully painted and cleaned, and everything put in order before official visits numerous times. Every time the feeling that conditions may improve was uplifting and 124