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More Voices of the Destitute

Here follows a selection of quotes from interviewees in The Destitution Trap: Research into destitution among refused asylum seekers in the UK.

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Why and how did people seek asylum?

How did people travel to the UK?

Why did people come to the UK specifically?

Having fled, how did people describe themselves?

Why and how did people seek asylum?

Fear of others

“My area was attacked and so the whole family fled and then separated. I hoped that once I was safe I could save my family.”
37-year-old Sudanese man

“The previous government of Somalia at least protected us, but when Alim Hade became President lots of ethnic fighting started… I can’t remember… I don’t know who changed but somebody changed but anyway it got very unsafe for us and a large number of my tribe had been killed and we were treated as people who were not allowed to live… I was raped, and tortured, and my father and brother were killed and my sister kidnapped and I still don’t know where she is.”
28-year-old Somali woman

“We left Somalia and moved from place to place… we went to a camp in Kenya. We were there for three or four years, but the camp wasn’t safe. Soldiers would break in and rape women and attack the men. I have injuries from being beaten by a soldier with the butt of a gun.”
23-year-old man from Somalia

Persecution by the state

“I was involved in politics as part of my research. One day they searched my taxi and found me with a political card. I was kept in prison. Ever since then I had problems with the government. They came to the house to harass me. After this I got more involved in protests against the government. The second time they arrested me they threatened me and raped me. They came to my home and made a mess. They hit my family members like they were dogs. When they detained me the last time, they had recognised me on a protest march. They took me to jail where I was raped by two policemen. I was handcuffed and they beat my feet.”
37-year-old woman from Cameroon

“I went to the university and complained about differential fees, and we organised a demonstration about it. I was not alone, most students demonstrated. I made a placard saying ‘The president is Rwandan not Congolese.’ An informer reported this and made trouble for me."
30-year-old man from the DRC

“I worked for a trade union – I was supporting the lowest paid people in the company and I was politically active…. I was arrested due to my activity against the government.”
48-year-old man from the DRC

“The police came to kill my brother and sister. The government of Kabila hated my father and accused him of fermenting rebellion. They didn’t believe he was dead, even though he was, and they were going to come and kill us as a way to get to him.”
24-year-old man from the DRC

“I was accused of distributing anti-government propaganda because I had been asked to photocopy papers that were criticising Iranian government policy. I couldn’t read and so didn’t know what I was copying.”
18-year-old man from Iran

“I was put in prison in the DRC because I disobeyed orders given to me by my superior. I disobeyed him because what he wanted me to do was inhuman and against human rights.”
37-year-old man from the DRC

Civil war

“I worked with my father on a farm. He had cows and I had to help him so I didn’t go to school. Then soldiers came, and they killed my father, and mother and sister…… I ran away, and then they told me that they had demolished the village.”
27-year-old man from Sudan

“There is a civil war. We are from a minority clan. I was abused, I can’t describe what happened. My father was killed in front of me. My sister was raped. I fled to the Kenyan border. There the police were raping the girls. I went back to Somalia, but there we are considered non-Somalis and seen as Arabs. They attacked me and they destroyed my manhood.”
31-year-old man from Somalia

“I escaped to Kenya. I had to flee without seeing my children… they were at school… they were coming back to rape me again and I was terrified… The Ugandan authorities thought that we were supplying rebels. When I was there, I heard my husband had disappeared.”
39-year-old woman from Uganda

“My home town was occupied by the militia. I was forced to work for them as a mechanic, fixing cars day and night for no money. Sometimes they gave me food. If you didn’t do as they said they would kill you.”
31-year-old man from Somalia

Non-state actors of persecution

“My wife was from the Hema tribe. My relatives did not like them because she was from a different tribe from us. They killed my parents, and my life was under threat.”
31-year-old man from the DRC

“I am a member of the Yibber tribe. We live by begging. After the war everything changed.”
27-year-old woman from Somalia

“I am a Sikh. Ourselves and our family were abused and persecuted because of this by both the Taliban and the Mujahedin. We were racially harassed.”
48-year-old man from Afghanistan

Women are also likely to be persecuted for breaking social mores. One woman described how she was systematically threatened because she developed a lesbian relationship following the death of her violent and alcoholic husband:

“After he died, I was devastated largely because two of my daughters had also died. I carried on teaching. Then I met someone else, but she was a woman. I realised I had feelings for her. But my family didn’t like it, and gradually we were more and more threatened… then I was sacked from school as they told me that I was morally misleading the children. My sons were very angry about me and they threatened to hurt me and hurt her. But then it happened – we were picked up by some youths and taken and beaten and she was raped… I fled… I don’t know if she is alive.”
67-year-old woman from Zimbabwe

Family honour and family factions were also described as a threat:

“My father had a second wife. It was a threat for me to return to Somalia as my mother feared that I would be targeted by the second wife and her family who were afraid that I would take over the property.”
22-year-old man from Somalia

“My family found out that my girlfriend had joined Islami Jihadi. My girlfriend’s family threatened to kill me because they did not like me having a relationship with her.”
23-year-old man from Iraq

What had happened to them

Some people felt able to describe what had happened to them at the hands of their persecutors in some detail. Others were only able to give brief accounts, quickly moving over incidents where punishment and violence were implied but not stated.

“I had a political problem. I was arrested and in prison a few times.”
30-year-old man from Cameroon

“I worked for a human rights organisation, and the organisation and I had many problems…. I was arrested and tortured a lot.”
27-year-old woman from the DRC

Torture
About 10 per cent of those we spoke with described torture or extreme physical punishment. In a few cases, people described systematic and prolonged bouts of torture in prison, endured over months and in a few cases years. In others, torture took the form of physical punishment received outside prison, for example, severe beatings by the police. Though they did not necessarily think of this as torture, many still visibly bore the scars in the form of broken bones, internal injuries and reduced mobility. Doctor’s certificates or treatments in the UK testified in many cases to conditions caused by physical violence prior to arrival.

“I was tortured by the government… they put me in prison because they thought I knew something about the rebels. They held me there for 3 months. They didn’t care what they did. It was not human – it was animal. I saw death in prison.”
27-year-old man from Sudan

“When I was in prison, I was tortured along with everyone else. It was common for people to be killed.”
46-year-old man from the DRC

“I was bundled into a BMW car and driven away… Then they took me out of the car and beat me and left me for dead in the jungle. I was in a coma. I don’t know how long it was before I woke up. I crawled to the main road but I looked so terrible nobody would stop.”
39-year-old man from Zimbabwe

“If you are from a different clan you simply get killed. They fasten your legs on to two different cars – you get killed in a bad way.”
28-year-old man from Sudan

“They put me in tiny cells and tied me up and I got no food and drink. I was stabbed during one interrogation in the back. They burnt me with cigarettes. I think they treated me like this because I didn't speak Swahili and they did not believe me.”
31-year-old woman from the DRC

Rape

“In jail I was stripped and raped. The conditions were terrible. I was raped several times, both at the back and at the front. I got diseases from this.”
47-year-old woman from the DRC

“One day I was at home with my daughter and soldiers came and told me that my husband had disappeared from prison and said they were looking for him but I didn't know where he was… they broke into the house and started to beat me, and took my daughter from my arms. They tore all my clothes off and separated me from my daughter. They raped me – there were lots of them – they raped me – I was just wanting to hear my daughter cry out but since that day I have not heard my daughter cry again - I haven't seen my daughter since that night.”
31-year-old woman from the DRC

“Government soldiers came to my house before we could leave. They raped my sisters, broke my brother’s arm and hit me with a rifle. They even raped my daughter – she was only three and she died.”
30-year-old man from the DRC

Imprisonment

“Quite often they would leave the bodies, but if they left them too long they would start stinking. Then they would get prisoners to take them outside to bury them…"
46-year-old man from the DRC

“They took me to a worse prison. But here at last they took me before the Commander who has worked with my father. He told me that I had to tell them where my husband was but I didn't know. He said that I would die here unless I got out, as everybody did. He said he would help me, but had to pretend that he was killing me in order for it to look real. So I was beaten by people and they put me in a sack and beat me. And he fired a shot and told people I was killed, and they carried me in a sack out of the prison and I was taken somewhere - I think it was a church.”
31-year-old woman from the DRC

“They put me in jail. Then the soldiers got my boss on the same day and beat him badly – he died the same night. Then they tortured me to make me tell about my boss and his communications. I knew nothing, but they kept me in jail. Every week they used to kill people after midnight. If you were called during the day it was good, but if you were called after midnight you were dead.”
43-year-old man from the DRC

Loss of family

“Circumstances forced me to leave Zimbabwe. I would not have come here – I am almost 60! Why would I want to? My child was killed by the government. I was getting threats all the while… my wife in Zimbabwe has a broken spine and is partially blind so she could not come with me.”
50-year-old man from Zimbabwe

“After I came here Zanu-PF men went to see my 14-year-old daughter in Zimbabwe – they wanted money because they thought that I was sending it to her from England – I wasn’t but they didn’t believe her. They attacked her and beat her to death.”
53-year-old woman from Zimbabwe

Loss of property and livelihood

“Our house was burnt down, and my hairdressing salon was burnt down, and we had to flee.”
30-year-old woman from Cote d’Ivoire

“My family owned five villas and two cars. I came from a very comfortable family. Now I have lost everything.”
30-year-old man from the DRC

“I was married. I had a family. I was a business woman. That’s all changed.”
39-year-old Ugandan woman

How did people travel to the UK

“I came to the UK in a flower lorry.”
56-year-old Belarusian man

“I let Sudan in a lorry, then we were put on a ship for four days, and then we landed somewhere. Then there was another lorry and after several days – I don’t know how many – we got to the UK.”
33-year-old man from Sudan

“I paid money to someone to help me flee. He asked me where I wanted to go. I said somewhere safe. I took a boat to the UK. He left me on the street. I wandered around looking for someone to talk to. I couldn’t phone and couldn’t speak English. I saw someone I thought was from Africa so spoke to him. He was Somali. I couldn’t understand Arabic. He bought chips for me. It was the first time I had chips. It is only now that I know they are called chips. He said there is nothing he could do and that I needed to go to the police. He showed me the way but refused to come with me. Eventually I stopped a police car and told them I was from Darfur.”
28-year-old man from Sudan

“When we arrived at the airport, he took all my documents and left me at the bus station. Someone took me to a church, and the church sent me back to the airport to claim.”
23-year-old man from Burundi

Why did people come to the UK specifically?

“…when I was scared I gave all my money to an agent… a trafficker, I think you call it. So I just followed. Once I was out of Angola, I felt quite vulnerable, and I was still scared, so I just followed.”
41-year-old man from the DRC

“I had no idea I was coming to the UK. I speak French. If I had a choice, I would have chosen France or Belgium.”
31-year-old man from the DRC

“(The UK was)… where the man could get me to. When I arrived, I didn’t know where I was. All I knew was that I wanted to leave the Sudan. I had no knowledge even when the police arrested me.”
27-year-old man from Sudan

Having fled how did people now describe themselves?

“I feel I am sort of lost.”
27-year-old woman from the DRC

“I don’t know. I can’t describe myself. I am a troubled person, with lots of problems.”
28-year-old woman from Somalia

“I used to dig water wells and make pumping fixings in Sierra Leone. I worked for Oxfam and in the poor communities. We were a poor family ourselves.”
48-year-old man from Sierra Leone

“I am a furniture maker and a footballer.”
24-year-old man from Zimbabwe

“I play chess online and enjoy it.”
26-year-old Zimbabwean man

"I’m just a normal person, a humble person who does no harm to anybody. I like peace and quiet, and would like to see people happy. I hate violence, as I have experienced a lot of it in my life.”
67-year-old woman from Zimbabwe

“I’m optimistic and very, very strong in enduring and I seem to make friends easily. I am strong minded and will not be diminished.”
36-year-old woman from Zimbabwe

Interpreting

“The whole problem happened with the interpreter. I was in need of an Oromo interpreter but was given an Amharic interpreter. I didn’t speak Amharic as well as I do now. In my statement there were so many things I wanted to explain but I didn’t know the word in Amharic. For example I got my dates mixed up because I couldn’t do dates in Amharic.”
20-year-old woman from Ethiopia

“The interpreter was provided by the Home Office – a French interpreter. French is not my main language. We couldn’t understand each other. I couldn’t believe it!”
36-year-old man from Burundi

“The interview was in French and the interpreter did not speak French as her first language. She spoke very fast and it was hard to understand the questions.”
27-year-old man from the DRC

“There was an interpreter there who worked for the Home Office. The lady spoke Cantonese but I speak Mandarin and I couldn’t completely understand them.”
27-year-old woman from China

“The interpreter was from Iraq (not my country). The information on the form was wrong. Later in court the judges said things from the form that I had not said – this was because the interpreting was bad.”
26-year-old man from Sudan

“The interpreter twisted the information. He gave the wrong information of the camp, gave the wrong year I went to the camp. He didn’t read through the form and translate. I signed without having the form translated.”
23-year-old man from Somalia

“It was very bad. It was a Kurdish interpreter and their Arabic was very different to mine.”
31-year-old man from Lebanon

“If you don’t know the interpreter then you don’t feel safe enough to share things with them. I was frightened that they would send me back and my fear and unfamiliarity with the interpreter meant that I didn’t say everything that I could have.”
36-year-old man from Iran

“My mother, in order to survive, would collect firewood from the bush and sell to neighbours for one shilling in order to get her daily bread. The interpreter described her as a businesswoman. This gave the wrong impression – she was fighting for her life.”
31-year-old man from Somalia

Practical problems

“I wasn't notified about (my appeal) until I got a letter from NASS saying I had not attended it. But I never got the letter because they had moved me three times! I got a letter from NASS saying they had withdrawn support because I did not turn up for my appeal. My solicitor helped me complain and my case was reinstated. In the end I had the appeal in Manchester. The solicitor went and presented to the Home Office. I took new evidence but it was not referred to or considered. The Home Office had already lost my main evidence presented at the Screening interview.”

“The letter from my solicitor was sent to the house but a friend took it accidentally and I did not get it for three months. When I found it I went to the solicitor and he said it was very late and he had stopped the file and demanded money to open it up, but I had not money. Then I did not know anything for a long time until my accommodation stopped in 2002/3.”
56-year-old man from Belarus

Appeals

“I went with the solicitor to Newport. The adjudicator asked me my name and verified the SEF. There was no Home Office representative. We went back while the car engine was still hot.”
22-year-old man from Somalia

“I went to court – the adjudicator said he had not read the papers. The Home Office representative did not come, so the adjudicator said he would just look at what was said to the Home Office. Then he asked me questions. I was there 15 minutes.”
30-year-old man from the DRC

“The interpreter was Egyptian. I didn’t understand him and he didn’t understand me. When we went, they asked a funny question about doors and windows. I was upset. The interpreter said they didn’t understand. The interpreter didn’t have knowledge of my country and the housing system. He was from Egypt and it affected the outcome of my case.”
29-year-old man from Iraq

Culture of disbelief

“The refusal letter mentioned that I had avoided eye contact. This was because the adjudicator was a woman and it is forbidden in Islam to make eye contact with a woman.”

“The Home Office representative was very anti-immigrant. He started questioning my profession – accused me of not being a photographer. I come from a small Kurdish town with very basic equipment. He produced a book on photography equipment and asked me technical questions about photography. In Kurdistan, the darkroom consists of a dark room with buckets of water and stone age equipment. He didn't ask me why I was here, just held my job against me. Why should I lie? Anyway it was not relevant.”

“It was like I was talking to someone stupid. I could see they were young and immature. You could tell he wasn't very educated. I was very disappointed when I got my refusal letter but not surprised. I realise I had been talking to a stupid person. He could never know what I experienced. It would never happen to his family - cutting your finger off in front of your mother, forcing you to have sex with your sister."
39-year-old Sudanese man

Poor quality of legal support

Lack of time

“When I went to see my first lawyer before my asylum interview, I started to tell my whole story. They told me that this wasn’t what I needed to do, and that I only had 20 minutes. My solicitor was constantly busy – he kept looking at his watch – I felt I had to shut up and I didn’t have time to tell my story. The interpreter was bad as well – she was an Italian woman who spoke only a bit of French and I scarcely understood her. Just before the 20 minutes finished he said he had enough to go on.”
41-year-old man from the DRC

“My solicitor didn’t read back any of the written statements to me. I’m sure it was not correct. When my SEF was read back to me at asylum interview I said ‘I didn’t say that!’. We had to correct everything!”
31-year-old man from Lebanon

Funding issues

“[The solicitor] wanted me to pay him. He opened the case afresh but cannot proceed unless I pay him. Now I have to pay for my rights, where will I get the money? I live like a bird, I don’t know where I will sleep or eat.”
49-year-old woman from Rwanda

“One solicitor charged £1,500 to do a fresh claim. I paid £50 to a solicitor in London to open my files. After I paid, they said they couldn’t do anything and that I would have to leave the country.”
37-year-old woman from Cameroon

“My lawyer never called me even once, he would not answer the phone to me… I would have gone more but he is never there and keeps you waiting, waiting, waiting and says, ‘go, come back, I’ll give you an appointment,’ and then forgets or will not see you. It is very hard to explain things to him.”
32-year-old man from Somalia

“I was very ill during this period – I had lost my baby earlier in the year and I was very upset and without a home. I didn’t attend the tribunal. I don’t know what happened. I just know that I was very worried because my lawyer didn’t talk to me and he didn’t know anything else about my case.”
30-year-old woman from Cote d’Ivoire

“I would say that the judge’s decision was based on misunderstanding more than anything, for instance, the fact that I had escaped from prison. I was saying that my uncle was able to bribe me out of the cell, I explained that to the lawyer, and then I used a chair to get over the wall. But in the statement it said I had gone under the wall. I was surprised to learn that – I never said it in the interview. The interpreter must have misinterpreted it. There is plenty of proof of my story. I did not understand the decision.”
32-year-old man from the DRC

Failure to pursue evidence

“I was getting letters from my solicitor so thought he was good. But after I was rejected I realised they were not good. They should have recommended I see a doctor and get medical reports.”
30-year-old man from the DRC

“The solicitor never contacted the Medical Foundation for a full report.”
31-year-old man from the DRC

“They asked me about the languages I spoke. They didn’t believe I was Tutsi and they wanted proof. But how can I prove it when I am in England? I am not there! How can I prove it? The only proof is my husband’s word. They wanted someone to say I looked like a Tutsi to confirm it. They wanted to know why I didn’t speak a Tutsi language. The solicitor didn’t help me. He forgot my papers. I was alone and no friends to help.”
35-year-old woman from the DRC

The effects of destitution

“Thank you for listening to me. I have been here for four years but I feel as this is the first time that anyone has given me an opportunity to tell my story.”
37-year-old man from Afghanistan

Where are people sleeping?

“I would like to find a place to sleep. If I had a place to sleep that would be very good.”
23-year-old man from Cote d’Ivoire

“I was staying with a friend until 2 weeks ago but he got fed up with me. Now I am sleeping here in the centre of town and sleeping rough a few times.”
32-year-old man from the DRC

“I live in different houses, never anywhere for more than a week. I get food from the Red Cross and the Catholic Church, and that is all.”
21 year woman from Eritrea

“I move from place to place – staying with friends. Sometimes I have to sleep outside in the train station and bus station. I have slept in the park a couple of times.”
26-year-old man from Sudan

“I lost NASS support in July 2002. Almost 4 years ago. I had tears at first and I did not know anyone from Ethiopia or anywhere. I moved from house to house - when they went out of the house I had to go out onto the street at 7 in the morning to not get caught by the owners who would kick me out. Then I met a lady asylum seeker who said I could go to her house but not until the evening. One night I went back there but she wouldn't let me in! I spent the whole night on the doorstep. I had to sleep on the street twice.”
33-year-old woman from Ethiopia

“I stay with friends. This is no life. I travel everywhere and stay with friends; sometimes I sleep in cars - quite often. Other times at friends' houses. I have no plan at the moment. I prefer to sleep outside. But if I was to go back to Kurdistan there would be more problems than here.”
23-year-old man from Iraq

“My son has noticed that I am having to beg. I cannot afford to buy him clothes. This is terrible for me.”
31-year-old woman from the DRC

“I used to get food out of the bins outside kebab shops and takeways.”
34-year-old man from the DRC

Work
“I am a teacher, I am not too old to do this anywhere, I can help other people.” 49-year-old woman from Rwanda

“At least give me security. I hope to get an opportunity to work as an electrician or do training so at least I can live with some dignity. I need permission to work.”
30-year-old man from the DRC

“I want to get a work permit so that I can support myself and not rely on charity.”
Woman from Palestine

“I want a peaceful life. I want to change my life. Allow me to work. This life I am living is miserable. I never thought I would live this way.”
26-year-old man from Eritrea

“Let them let us work. I would love to go back, but it’s just not safe at the moment.”
33-year-old woman from Zimbabwe

“I am a young man, I could be useful to society. I am wasting my energy. It is embarrassing in my culture for a young man not to be working.”
26-year-old man from Iran

“What do you want us to do? Become criminals? You don’t know what work people have done in the past and what they might do in the future. The Home Office keep the people in this situation. Make a decision and send me somewhere that I am needed. If there is peace in Burundi I would go. But they are still killing people behind the scenes. This life is bad. Very bad. I cannot go back to Burundi. Take me somewhere else – an island somewhere. I’ll be fisherman or carpenter.”
36-year-old man from Burundi

“I need some peace. I need a chance to get away from what I ran from. I want to study – nursing for example. I am working as a volunteer with disabled people.”
27-year-old man from the DRC

“If you don’t provide accommodation or money it’s like telling us to become a thief or a burglar. In Africa people eat from the same dish - but not here. I saw an asylum seeker arrested for stealing a loaf of bread. He was my friend. It is not good to put people out with no support.”
43-year-old man from the DRC

“The government don’t regard us as people but I’ve done nothing wrong… I thought, ‘I must not do anything wrong’. I have worked as a volunteer here. But how do they think I am surviving? If they see a person working they say ‘there’s a thief, there’s a law breaker!’ They don’t think about what has forced him to do this… What makes me saddened is that wild animals are given a zoo to live in and be looked after because they make a profit. I am a human being and have never harmed anyone. Why can’t they provide somewhere for me to live? Where can we go? I have worked for a year as a volunteer in the church and cathedral. What else can people do but break the law? Where should people go?”
50-year-old man from Zimbabwe

“I haven’t hurt anyone. I’ve been a good man and take responsibility for myself. If you make someone eat out of a bin it’s not right. The Home Office and Immigration officers must hate Kurdish people. I came into this country for safety but no one is helping me. I have nothing in this country. No family, no benefits, no right to work. I am a human being. I want to work. If I can’t work how can I go out or do anything? If I work illegally they will take me to court. I can’t do robbery or murder for money. What can I do? Provide me with support or the right to work. If you have a dog in your house and you don’t feed it or walk it, what does it do?”
23-year-old man from Iraq

“I am a parent but I have nothing to give them (my children). I’m their dad but I can’t give them anything. I get depressed – I am thinking so much. I feel bad. If you are not working you feel bad. The Home Office should look at decisions on asylum seekers. If they’re going to remove someone at least give them time to prepare for return. Cutting everything is no good – they need to be able to survive. Give them the right to work until they are returning.”
37-year-old man from Angola

“England has done a lot for me. It has made me understand my rights. It’s given me an education and I am grateful for that. But I want to be able to work and look after and support my daughter… For the last four years I’ve done nothing and I’m not proud of that.”
20-year-old man from Guinea

Crime
“They drive you to be a criminal. Hunger drives you to be a criminal.”
24-year-old man from the DRC

“I was so desperate that I did something that I’m ashamed of. I was so hungry that I went into a police station and asked them if I could spend a night in a cell. They said no as I had not done anything wrong. They were very polite to me. I was so desperate that on the way out I deliberately smashed a police car headlight so that they would have to arrest me. I spent a week in jail. The judge at the trial was very sympathetic. I know it was wrong to do this but I was so desperate. The food was actually quite good.”
Man from Zimbabwe

Sex workers
“I’ve been living as a prostitute for the last year. I charge £5 a time for someone to fuck me and some clients argue about even paying me that because they know how desperate I am.“
24-year-old man from the DRC

How are people spending their days?
“I’m walking and moving, walking and moving all day. Sometimes I find a place to put my head down.”
27-year-old man from the DRC

“I come to the church and help with the cleaning. I’m a Muslim but God is God.”
Somali man

“Sometimes we walk from one end of town to the other and back just to kill time. When college was open I went for English classes but now it’s closed. I go out and look for my friends.”
23-year-old man from Cote d’Ivoire

Young asylum seekers
“I feel lonely and uncertain about the future. I am frightened of being arrested and beaten. I have flashbacks to what happened to me in my country. I feel hopeless and helpless. When I was at home I was a happy person.”
17-year-old girl from Ethiopia

“I was sharing a flat with two others. Eight weeks before I reached 18, I was kicked out. I was supported by social services. They didn’t give me any legal advice - just paid me money for a while. I stay with friends, moving daily so as not to overstay my welcome.”
18-year-old man from Iran

“I haven’t had contact with my family since I left Kenya. I don’t know whether they are dead or alive. Here I am all alone. I feel lost here to be honest. I have tried to go to college but I can’t focus. I’ve come here and there’s nothing, nothing at all. I’m not getting a proper education. I’ve lost it completely. Sometimes you feel you’d rather die in the war.”
23-year-old man from Somalia

Mental and physical health
“I don’t have a life here. My daughter doesn’t have a life there.”
24-year-old woman from Ethiopia

“I have left my child behind and I don’t know where he is. I feel despairing. I don’t know where to turn.”
30-year-old woman from Cote d’Ivoire

“I’m depressed. I feel very tired and felt suicidal once. But if I die? What about my children? It’s better for my children to know that I am alive and for them to know that we are suffering and struggling together. I just give them love. I can’t afford to help them in other ways.”
53-year-old woman from Zimbabwe

“Often I don’t sleep and don’t eat. I feel headaches all the time. When I feel headaches, I remember what happened to me in Somalia and I remember what happened in the UK and I talk to myself like a crazy person. Often I feel like I am mad. My head pounds and I get flashbacks to that time, and wonder where my child is.”
28-year-old woman from Somalia

“I get very down and feel very bad at times. I end up accusing myself and think it would be better to be dead. I end up feeling suicidal. I am always worrying about everything. After school I had nothing to do. I’m not the same as I used to be. I taught for 13 years, and here I have done nothing. I feel desperate. I feel like I ran away from a life which was too dangerous, into captivity.”
39-year-old man from Zimbabwe

“I sought asylum to be safe. I thought that I would be protected but am very disappointed. They [the UK government] should treat human beings with respect. There are no human rights.”
22-year-old man from Iran

“They should properly consider people’s asylum claims. I am at an age that I can’t have adventures any more. This is not an adventure. Don’t think that people are coming to Europe for money. Some asylum seekers have a real problem [in their country]. With my status and job I’ve travelled the world and went to many places. I don’t want to be in Europe, why would I leave my good life and job to come here?”
36-year-old man from the DRC

“I am a decent person, a quiet person. I have nothing, no family, no life. How can I live like this?”
26-year-old man from Eritrea

These are just a selection of quotes from the whole report.

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