Refugee Week 2021: Sidi’s story
Today, right in the middle of #RefugeeWeek, we had the most incredible news about our friend Sidi. Last year in August, Sidi attempted to get to the UK but, because he couldn’t afford to pay people-smugglers, he got in an inflatable kayak with three friends and rowed for twelve hours through the night. When the sun started to come up the kayak had taken on so much water they realised they wouldn’t make it. If something didn’t happen it was going to sink and they would all be lost. As one of the guys was only 16 years old, Sidi …
Refugee Week 2021: Issa’s story
When you use a people smuggler to get you across the desert in Libya, what often happens is that at the end of the journey, they take out a gun and demand your documents. Then they demand money to let you go, maybe 2000 Libyan dinars (£300) or more. If you don’t have the money, they melt plastic in a fire, push it into your back and make a video. Then they send the video to your family and demand a ransom to let you go. Or they imprison you somewhere, and make you work until you have paid off …
Refugee Week 2021: Elias’s story
I haven’t seen my mum for a long, long time, and I don’t know where she is. I don’t know if my dad’s alive or dead. I came from Eritrea, but I’ve been travelling for so many years now. The thing that has really kept me alive is my dream of being an artist. Do you mind if I don’t tell you all the details of my story in Eritrea? It makes me feel bad to remember it. I can tell you that it was my mum that made our family leave, when I was small. She is my hero. …
Elias’s story
I haven’t seen my mum for a long, long time, and I don’t know where she is. I don’t know if my dad’s alive or dead. I came from Eritrea, but I’ve been travelling for so many years now. The thing that has kept me alive is my dream of being an artist. We spent time in Ethiopia before I set out on my own for Sudan. I passed through Egypt and finally made it to northern France. It was my wish to come to London; I knew people would be open, and accept me here. And I always dreamed …
Refugee Week 2021: Riri’s Story
The decision to leave Eritrea was heartbreaking for me. I stayed because I wanted to be with my family and my friends, especially my dad. I’m so close to my dad, he’s my hero: kind and funny, but also calm and reassuring. He’s the oldest of his brothers, so he became the head of our families, and everyone looked up to him. When I had to go for military service my dad became my rock and my confidant. In Eritrea, all kids finish year 11 at school, and then they have to go to a military camp called Sawa [an …
Landmark court win for refugee accused of smuggling
Priti Patel publicly peddles an outright lie about refugees and asylum seekers, but her deceit has just been exposed – partly thanks to Care4Calais. If you heard the Home Secretary’s speech about this government’s plans for immigration last week, you may have heard her bragging about “small boat related prosecutions.” She meant the trial and imprisonment of people caught driving small boats across the English Channel. Since the start of 2020 there have been 65 such prosecutions. Patel wants you to think it’s people smugglers being locked up. But it isn’t. From long experience in northern France, we know that …
The Aspen Emergency
This weekend, many asylum seekers are facing a dire emergency. In almost every region, vulnerable people – including the old, the disabled, and families with babies and toddlers – are being left without food or money after having their financial support effectively cut off by the Home Office. Our volunteers are delivering food parcels and providing food vouchers where possible. We are deeply concerned about the next few days. The problem originates from the Home Office’s botched switching of contracts between two private companies it pays to run Aspen cards. Aspen cards are a kind of debit card given to …
M’s story
Last week, I met M, a Kurdish man from Iran in his early twenties. At college, he studied civil engineering. He was also involved in politics and participated in an anti-government demonstration. M was standing up for what he believed in but was threatened as a result. After the protest, the police demanded that he come to the station for questioning. Fearing the worst, he and his parents knew he could go to prison for a long time. ‘I was terrified and my parents were crying’, he said, describing the moment he knew he had to get out of Iran. …
Mohammed’s story
When you’ve walked from Khartoum to Calais, through Iran and Turkey and most of Europe, Stockton seems a very small place. I’ve been here three months now. It’s OK. I have my own house now, I share it with four friends from Africa, Afghan and Iran. It is better then the hotel in some ways as I have my own space, but in the hotel I had lots of Syrian friends and we would sit and talk so much about everything and nothing at all! I do miss that. I left Syria when I was 19 and I am now …
Danika’s story
“I am a refugee. That’s still my identity, even 29 years after I left my home. It’s what I know and who I am. I am a fighter and voice for those who have none.” Meet our friend Danika, warrior for the rights and humanity of the Paris refugees. Care4Calais has supported her for over five years now and she is our main partner in Paris. This is her story: “The war in the Balkans spun my life around and turned me into a refugee. Not something I ever expected. I’d had a pretty normal childhood until then. We lived …