Piyaz’s story
Today I met an amazing man whose spirit and strength really inspired me. His journey had been incredibly long and hard, but in just an hour or so, he filled me with admiration for the resilience and resourcefulness he had built up during his long life as a refugee. Piyaz left his native Afghanistan in 2013, and to get to Calais, where he’s living hoping to get to the UK, he had walked most of the way. “Eight years walking. That’s being a refugee. No place to stay, and it’s hard on your body. Hard on your feet!” Even …
Paul and Chief’s story
Paul fled from Liberia to the UK in 2004, after his parents, brothers and sisters were killed in the second Liberian civil war. He had lived in London for five years, waiting on a decision on his asylum claim, when glaucoma in one eye began to damage his eyesight. Unfortunately, hospital treatments didn’t work, and then a problem with his other eye, has left him severely sight-impaired. He tries to stay active, but his eyesight is getting worse. The Home Office housed Paul in an east London hotel 14 months ago. At first he felt very depressed and isolated …
Anguish on the Polish border
Fatemah and her family are Iraqi refugees, likely to be killed if they return to Iraq; to make things even worse, Fatemah herself has a medical condition requiring attention. A few weeks ago, she and her husband Aras saw an ad for package holidays to Belarus that included visas that allowed you to visit the EU; thinking they could use the visa to claim asylum in Poland, they bought places for Fatemah, their two young children, and Fatemah’s father. Her husband stayed behind in Dubai, planning to join them later. Once in Belarus, Fatemah, her dad and two children …
Hassoun’s story
Being a refugee in Calais has shocked me. I don’t understand why some people here hate us so much. I didn’t expect the people here to be like this, chasing us away and shouting horrible things at us. The police are the worst – it’s almost like they are the Janjaweed militia I was running away from. My name is Hassoun. I’m 21 and I live in an area of Calais they call Old Lidl. I’m just trying to get to the UK to join my uncle and cousins who are there. It’s mostly Sudanese where I live and, as …
Raafi’s story
I worked in Helmand Province for Britain’s Ministry of Defence as an interpreter for five years. I spent my time with the British soldiers, on patrol and on the post. I carried the massive packs through the sweltering lands, I was shot at and hunted. I lived with the same risk as the soldiers – the only difference was I didn’t carry a weapon. But I never felt as scared as I did in the last days of Kabul. I have a lovely wife and two small children, and when I was no longer needed by the …
Moj of the Access Team
A wise friend told me once that once you are successful you must put the money in your bank from your work, but you must also put a deposit in nature’s bank, and one day that will repay you too. So that’s what I am doing now. I work for Care4Calais as a volunteer interpreter. I do my everyday work from nine to five, and after that I put my phone down. But I’ve told the people at Care4Calais that they can call me anytime, day or night, even if I’m sleeping, and I’ll answer. I’m an interpreter for …
Another tragic incident on the UK border
As the weekend ended, somewhere on the coast of northern France, three Somalian refugees climbed into a small dinghy and set off to cross the English Channel. Their boat was notably smaller than dinghies often seen being used to cross the channel, and was certainly not suitable for one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The men will most likely have been aiming for the Kent coast, but the tides bore their tiny vessel far off course, out beyond the eastern tip of Kent. Around midday they would have been drifting on past the mouth of the Thames and on …
Esfandiar’s story
My name is Esfandiar. I’m from Iran, but I’m also a Kurd, so life in Iran was never easy for me. I’m a teacher, but I couldn’t get a regular teaching job in Iran because I didn’t fit the government’s ideas of what a good Iranian should be and do. I wouldn’t spy on my fellow teachers or my students, but the Iranian government tried to pressurise me into doing so by making my life as hard as possible. Because I did not give in, they made it impossible for me to teach in regular schools, so I had to …
The anxiety of an Afghan refugee
“It’s my family I am frightened for now. On the phone, my father told me the Taliban had been for him. They came into his home, they tied his hands and put a bag over his head, they took him away to question him about me. They brought him back, but when they don’t find me they will take him again. “He and my mother now move from house to house, hiding. It is the same for my brother. I don’t know what to do. I am sorry… ” As Abdul, a young Afghan father in his early thirties told …