Illustration by Kiera O'Brien
Jassy is a 30-year-old makeup enthusiast from Central America who has been seeking asylum in the UK for just over a year. Unfortunately her initial asylum claim was denied, but she is currently appealing this with the support of a lawyer. She enjoys supporting charities and is currently volunteering for a foodbank and for Give Your Best, where she is responsible for passing on some of the packages that our Gifters send to women in our community. So maybe Jassy has delivered one of your items, or even an item to you!
A ‘typical day’ for J
Most mornings, Jassy wakes up early and exercises first thing —she says that exercise improves her mood for the rest of the day. Back in Central America, Jassy had a gym membership and would go to the gym to train and strengthen the muscles around her knee, following a surgery she had a few years ago. However, Jassy receives just
£37 a week to live on while she is seeking asylum in the UK. She is worried about the possibility of needing to have another surgery if she doesn’t train regularly enough, so she carefully sets aside some of this money each week to buy some weights. However, in order to do this, she has to buy less food to eat.
“With the money the Home Office gives me, I try to save half, so I try to buy half the food.”
As Jassy is
not permitted to work while waiting for her decision on her asylum claim, she volunteers at a foodbank who send food parcels to people who are seeking asylum, refugees and people who are on low incomes. Alongside this, as well as sometimes shopping with Give Your Best, Jassy is also a Give Your Best volunteer. She supports the operations team by taking in parcels and delivering them by hand to our Shoppers who would prefer for their address to be kept private. However, if she is not at the foodbank or delivering parcels for Give Your Best, Jassy is practicing her English skills.
“I’m studying and studying and studying my English grammar…because my idea is to get a bursary to enter university, as I couldn’t finish in my home country…This is my goal right now.”
Jassy was in her final year of university studying for a Marketing Degree before she had to escape Central America and seek asylum. Back home, Jassy was working for a company in a customer service and sales job which she enjoyed a lot. She is especially proud of how she had been able to get this job and the positions she had held previously in the company, as the competition for jobs was so high. In her customer service job, Jassy loved talking to customers in different countries and being able to practice her English. Now one of her main goals is to go back to university to complete a degree. However, she has not yet been able to apply as there are not many UK universities offering bursaries for people seeking asylum for the course Jassy would like to study. While she finds this frustrating, she has continued to research and find out more about the process.
An asylum claim, refusal and an appeal
After arriving in the UK in 2019, Jassy had her first
interview with the Home Office, where those managing her claim asked about what had led her to seek asylum in the UK. However, upsettingly J’s initial asylum claim was refused. The lawyer supporting Jassy was also incredibly frustrated with this outcome, as they said Jassy had all the evidence alongside her experiences, for her asylum claim to be accepted. However, Jassy was told by the person overseeing her claim that they didn’t know enough about the situation in Jassy’s country.
“This is one of the disadvantages, when the person who took my case doesn’t know too much about [the country]…they said… ‘Unfortunately, there is not too much information that the internet provides [on the situation]’. And it’s like oh my God, if [they] couldn’t find it…! I mean, the proof [is] there…”
Half-joking, Jassy tells us that she told the team working on her claim that they should have asked her to take a lie-detector test:
“…like in CSI […] So that you know that we are telling the truth! I mean, I’m laughing but at the same time I’m feeling a little bit upset…I’m not here because I want [to be] …I was in danger. […] People that come over here and seek asylum, it’s not because they want [to], it’s because it’s something they
have to do. I [lived] all my life in my country, I never expected to move here… [The UK is an] amazing country but I miss
my country.”
“I’ve been in lockdown since I came here!”
J’s lawyer said they would support her through the appeal process and since then Jassy has been waiting for a response from the Home Office. While she says she feels supported by her lawyer and hopes that the appeal will result in a positive result, Jassy says that she often feels very frustrated at the situation. She doesn’t know how much longer she’ll have to wait for or what she can do in the meantime.
“Right now, what I want is just to finish this process…I’m just waiting every day, and I’m counting one day less, one day less. And I don’t even have the date of the appeal, I’m just waiting...”
The waiting is especially tough when she can’t socialise with people and build up a support network, due to the lockdown. She says she is trying to keep her faith and stay positive, but this can be challenging.
“You cannot work, you cannot do anything… I have a belief that God is giving you everything in the time that He knows that it’s going to work… so I’m just trying to be very positive. But as a human being…most of the time [I] just want to go to climb a mountain and go to the top and just scream and let it go - Everything I feel every day. […] Everyone right now is in lockdown, but for me, I’ve been in lockdown since I came here!”
She spoke to her lawyer a few weeks ago, who told her to ‘be prepared’ and keep going through the details of her asylum claim. However, having to constantly relive and remember the upsetting things that happened that led her to seek asylum in the UK is distressing for J. Nevertheless, Jassy feels determined that even if she receives another refusal, she will not give up.
“This is our right as a human being…I was reading the laws and it’s a right [for] everyone to [seek] asylum if we are in danger.”
“We really want to give our best”
Jassy has felt particularly disheartened by some people’s views about those seeking asylum and wishes that there was more understanding that people in these circumstances are skilled and talented people who can contribute to society by being allowed to work.
“We really want to work!...We could increase the economy in this beautiful country. […] I wish the Home Office could give me the opportunity to work. […] We really want to give our best in this country, but they do not allow us. […] It’s very sad because there’s a lot of people seeking asylum out there that…professionally, are really good [and skilled]. […] There are laws and we understand that but it is really sad because we also need an income. Everyone, as a human being, needs things—essentials. […] I don’t even have the money to buy things that I need, [let alone] that I want!”
Jassy tells us about an incident at the foodbank she volunteers at where a man asked where she was from. She told him she was seeking asylum and was waiting for an answer on her asylum claim from the Home Office, to which the man started talking about Brexit and told Jassy how he thought there were ‘too many people’ seeking asylum in the UK.
“He was telling me… ‘There [are] a lot of people seeking asylum, it’s too much! …Why is the government accepting people from other countries if we need help here?!’ […] He asked me ‘Why are you not working if you speak English?’ He doesn’t even know! […] So, I just [told him]: ‘If I had the opportunity to work, I would work but they don’t allow me.’”
Jassy told the man that she came to the UK as she was in danger in her country. Jassy feels exasperated that people can have these opinions about people seeking asylum when they are not actually aware of their reality: that they are unable to work in the UK while they wait for a decision on their claim. Jassy says she didn’t take this interaction personally, but she knows that if this person had said the same thing to someone else in her situation, he could have really hurt their feelings. Overall, she wishes that people could be more open minded.
The silver linings
While she has encountered people who hold these more negative views about people seeking asylum, there are other people who Jassy has met in the UK who do give her a lot of support and with whom she feels connected to. The people she volunteers at the foodbank with invited her to a Christmas gathering before the lockdown which she says made her feel really welcome.
“In this world there are a lot of types [of people] so you just have to take the good ones!”
She tells us about how she has developed some incredibly close friendships, including with another woman seeking asylum who, up until recently, lived in the same house as J.
“She is now like my sister! [...] Even [with] all the circumstances that I’ve been through, and the difficult times, having [that] connection with other people and having the opportunity to meet people from another culture, you [get to] understand a lot of things. And now I know how to cook the chicken from her country [and] she learned some things about me, so it’s pretty nice! You have a roomie, or a housemate from a different culture and you learn about a lot of things, so it’s pretty amazing! …That could be one of the happy things that [has] happened to me.”
Helping out at the foodbank has also been a welcome distraction while Jassy is unable to work. She really enjoys how she has been able to continue volunteering at charities, as this was something she is passionate about and was something she did back home as well. Jassy also tells us how being part of the Give Your Best volunteering team has especially helped her to feel supported and part of something.
“Because of this amazing platform, Give Your Best—this amazing community, I have the opportunity to meet people… they’re asking me how I am…it makes me feel like they take care of me. I [feel] really glad that I’m in this amazing community. [...] You feel good that you give your support to people […] Watching the faces of these women when they receive the parcels from Give Your Best, do you know how amazing that is?!...When you see their faces, the final destination of the parcel, it’s so amazing. It’s priceless.”
Gifts that make people’s days
Jassy knows first-hand how exciting it is to receive presents from our Gifters: the day Jassy spoke to us, her Christmas
Gift Your Best parcel had just arrived! Jassy was delighted with the gift as it contained spa and skincare products, which are some of her favourite things. During lockdown, Jassy says she has been able to distract herself by watching skincare and makeup tutorials, as these make her feel good. She had recently watched a video about using face masks and she was very excited that this present actually contained a clay mask for her to try.
“[The Gifter] put a huge smile on my face…When I saw it—my God, she definitely made my day! She cannot even imagine how happy I was!”
The five women that Jassy currently lives with are also seeking asylum in the UK and are Give Your Best Shoppers. Jassy says they too feel very grateful to our Gifters:
“All these women taking their time to upload their things to give them to another person, it’s so amazing... That’s the best part: the people, the community, the support that they give to all the people who [are] in need right now […] Every time [my housemates] receive a parcel, they are saying they’re very grateful to find [Give Your Best], it’s…very supportive.”
The importance of paying it forward, and of never giving up!
Jassy continues to maintain hope that her asylum claim will be accepted in the future and she will receive refugee status so that she can finally feel safe. She tells us that once this happens, she will try and get a job in customer service while she applies to study towards a career in logistics at university. Her advice for other people in similar circumstances to her would be to keep persevering:
“Never give up! …For the Shoppers [my advice would] be ‘Don’t give up, just have that hope, keep it and it doesn’t matter if you get refused.’…They just have to keep fighting that it’s going to happen. And trust God.”
Jassy also recognises that, for the moment, she is being supported by volunteers herself. However, as she believes in reciprocity and paying good deeds forward, Jassy is really excited to become a Give Your Best Gifter in the future.
“I’ve received things [from Give Your Best Gifters] so definitely in the future I will do the same thing...It’s really special and it’s a win-win: don’t you feel excited when you are going to give something that another person is going to receive with [a] smile and happiness?!…Both of [you] are happy! [...] My grandmother used to tell me: ‘Today for you, tomorrow for me’. So, this is why I’m always trying to help, because what I give today, I will probably receive it in the future!”
Writer: Lauren Porter
Editor: Harri Welch
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