Wonderful news about our friend Sani

Last October Sani got in a small boat to cross to the UK. As soon as the boat was out at sea, she saw a big ship coming towards them, and thought they would all be killed. “One man on board went crazy and started unscrewing the cap to let the air out of the dinghy,” she remembers. “I shouted ‘You are crazy! Put that back!’”

Partly thanks to her good sense, they all made it here, and she applied for asylum.

Sani had left Iran, where she worked as a firefighter, because her family tried to kill her when she changed her religion to Christianity. Her own brother tried to run her off the road when she was out driving.

She had to leave her son from her previous marriage, and cross through Turkey, Greece. “ Then I walked with a group of families through forests in Bosnia and Croatia. We drank rainwater, and slept behind rocks to hide. We saw bears and wolves,” she says. “It lasted two and a half months.”

Finally she made it it to the UK, where she thought she would be treated fairly. And now she has got the fantastic news that she has been granted asylum.

She hopes now that her son will be able to come to her. “He’s 16 now. If he comes, we can make a new life here – I don’t think I’ll be a firefighter here, but I will find some new work.

“I thank the Care4Calais volunteers for all their help while I have been here. They have been like angels to me with their kindness.”

If you can help us to help other refugees like Sani, please volunteer or donate at care4calais.org/donate

Pic: Daniela Sbrisny