A safer, but not a better life
Ilda came to the UK over five years ago as a teenager to seek asylum. Once in the UK, she was living with a family member and attended school and college where she took her GCSEs and A-levels; qualifications which she feels will be helpful for her in the future. She had a mainly positive experience of studying, as her teachers were supportive, although she sadly faced xenophobic bullying from some pupils.
Once Ilda turned 18, she was separated from her family member and was relocated to another city in the UK. Since this time, Ilda has experienced significant challenges with her immigration status, which has been an incredibly upsetting and mentally draining experience. Her asylum claim and subsequent appeals have been refused, meaning she now receives section 4 support, which is provided to people seeking asylum who are destitute. The small amount of money she receives is incredibly challenging for her to live on. At one point, Ilda was even made homeless when her previous asylum claim was refused.
“It’s been so hard. They leave you with £5 per day and when you are a “failed asylum seeker”, they leave you destitute and I became homeless. For me to become homeless and sleep under a bridge…it’s really difficult. I have heard so many people saying ‘oh you get bed and breakfast, you get this money and that’ – that’s not true… the overall experience is horrible.”
The funds she receives just about cover the absolute basics, but don’t take into consideration any additional money required for emergencies. Ilda recognises that this is even more challenging for people seeking asylum who also have children.
“I can understand that they can give you £5 a day for the basics, but what happens if I have an emergency and I need to get to the hospital…how will I pay the taxi? They say take the bus…but how will I find a bus after midnight? They only give you money for food and toiletries and basic things, but I think as a human being, you don’t only need the basic things.”
Thankfully, Ilda is no longer homeless and currently lives in shared accommodation with other women seeking asylum. However, she feels that providing suitable accommodation for people seeking asylum is not taken seriously. Last year during the pandemic she had to share a room with another woman, which she says was incredibly difficult. Ilda believes that a lot of people who come to seek asylum in the UK are shocked at how challenging the reality is and she stresses that people are only forced into this situation in the hope of finding safety.
“I want people to know that seeking asylum is not a luxury, it’s not a choice made to have a better life. […] The only reason that people leave their country and come here as an asylum seeker is their fear of persecution and it is a very strong fear…I don’t think that someone would come, leave their family, their beautiful country...to become an asylum seeker, live on £5 per day... This is not a better life. This is a safer life.”
Years of waiting
One of the things which Ilda finds the most difficult about her current situation is the waiting for any progress to be made on her immigration case, which she feels does not take into account the impact that it has on people’s lives. For example, Ilda was given an appeal court date for a hearing for November 2019, but this was cancelled and pushed until July 2020, and then cancelled again and rearranged for September 2020.
“Imagine a whole year waiting, just to get in front of a judge. […] I believe this system of immigration is one of the hardest in the whole world…If they don’t want to keep you in this country, they don’t have to take years of your life to [give] you a decision. […] All this time - more than 5 years being an asylum seeker – it’s all the time going to courts, having negative decisions, appealing them, [making new] claims.”
Due to the pandemic, Ilda had to have this hearing remotely which was very difficult as there were so many different people on the call. Ilda says it was hard for her to know when to speak or intervene. Unfortunately, Ilda’s appeal was refused again, but her solicitor is still currently supporting her case.
The impact of the pandemic
The pandemic made things especially challenging. Ilda’s experiences echoes research findings which highlight the immense difficulties that women seeking asylum faced during the lockdowns, while already subjected to structural inequalities and marginalisation, conducted by the Sisters Not Strangers coalition. With the food shortages at the start of the first lockdown, most of the things Ilda could buy with the small amount of money she received had already been bought. This made things very difficult for her and the other women she lives with, who are also seeking asylum, in an already scary time. They were also unable to do online food orders as they do not have a way to pay for this online.
However, it was during the lockdown last year when Ilda decided to set up an Instagram account to share the knowledge she had of seeking asylum in the UK to help other people in similar situations.
“It was during the lockdown and I was really upset about the system of immigration – it’s so hard for asylum seekers—and so I said I need to open an account to tell and to share my experience and raise awareness of what we’re going through […] It’s good that my knowledge and experience can help others in need.”
Ilda receives many messages through this account—both from people who have questions for her but also sadly a lot of racist abuse. She now has over 1,000 followers which she is happy about and overall feels glad that she opened this account—especially during lockdown which gave her something to focus on.
The start of the Give Your Best community!
It was through Ilda starting her Instagram account that Sol, Give Your Best’s founder, got in touch with her. Sol reached out to Ilda, recognising that the experiences that Ilda was facing were incredibly difficult and offering support, such as sending clothes and toiletries to her and the women in her household. It was following this connection, and through both Sol and Ilda speaking more, that Sol realised that there was a need for a more formalised system to provide clothes to people in similar situations to Ilda. This is how Give Your Best was born! With Ilda’s advice and guidance, Sol was able to initially set up a system that would be suitable to women in Ilda’s situation; now Give Your Best has over 400 women from refugee backgrounds registered to shop their free catalogue. Ilda is a regular shopper with Give Your Best too and appreciates what it means for people who are destitute and seeking asylum, especially how easy it is to shop.
“I wish this page was opened years ago…without money you don’t have the choice to buy clothes…on [Give Your Best’s] page you can find clothes and anything you like, they bring it to you […] It’s so nice, the idea of having some pretty clothes which you like when you’re not able to buy them but Give Your Best get them to you for free, it’s incredible!”
“Take it easy”
When asked if she had any helpful advice she had received recently which she wanted to share, Ilda reflected on a time when someone who was supporting her through a charity advised her to ‘take things easy’. At first, Ilda says she didn’t really understand what was meant by this. But she now realises that this was an acknowledgement of how the asylum-seeking process can be incredibly drawn out and mentally exhausting, so it is best to be kind to yourself throughout this time.
Happily, Ilda also recently received some more positive news: confirmation that she can be relocated back with her family member. Ilda is feeling positive about living with them again, as they will be a much-needed source of support in an already very difficult and challenging situation.
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