NEWS & BLOG

“I work in the NHS at Charing Cross Hospital as a healthcare worker these days, looking after people. I’m training to be a nurse and can’t wait to qualify. But it’s been a very long journey to get to do what I love.

In 2019 I was forced to flee Nigeria for my life with my three young kids. I’d recently lost my husband and I was incredibly vulnerable as a young widow facing many very dangerous situations on my own. I was so worried for the safety of me and my kids that I eventually decided to come to London to seek asylum, since I had distant relatives here and I thought we would be safe.

Only a few months after we arrived in London to stay with our extended family, Covid struck. My relatives told us we had to leave the house and we found ourselves homeless. We called the Home Office, who sent us to an asylum hotel in Hammersmith.

It was so isolating. I didn’t know what to do – I was very depressed and confused, and we barely left our small room. The kids didn’t have enough to eat. I was thin, and sick with worry and stress. The asylum hotel manager was becoming more and more worried about me, but couldn’t get me to leave my room. Then, one day in winter, Jo, the Director of West London Welcome, stopped by to visit some members of the charity who were also living at our hotel. The manager told her about me, and Jo thought she would try to see if she could help. She came up to my door and knocked.

It was a life-changing moment, when Jo invited me to come to WLW. The first thing she did was give me vouchers for food – she could see I was frail. At the hotel, it was chaos because of Covid and the kids were hungry. Then we started going to WLW, and that was when our journey really began.

Leyla, Deputy Director of WLW, found us a great legal aid lawyer to take on our asylum claim who started working with us. He was so supportive. Covid was an especially difficult time for us asylum-seeking people – the Home Office was in turmoil, with an extremely long backlog of asylum claims. I started volunteering at the centre, organising teas and coffees for others, and supporting other local Nigerians. Each week I got fresh groceries from the centre, casework support, and took advanced English classes.

Our claim took several years, during which time we were forced by the Home Office to move four times – shuttled between North London, Reading, Hounslow and Hammersmith. Worst of all, due to our all the moves the kids often couldn’t attend school. The WLW advice team are trying to change things for asylum-seeking people by contributing evidence for a legal challenge against the Home Office for their huge delays in making decisions on huge numbers of asylum claims across the country.

It was whilst I was in despair during Covid, thinking that our asylum claim would never be granted, that something incredible happened. I saw a job advertised as an NHS healthcare assistant at Charing Cross which I had all the right skills and experience for, and asked WLW’s advice on how to get legal permission to work on the shortage occupation list so I could interview for it. WLW and my lawyer supported me to navigate the application process, and amazingly I got the job. Even though I was still seeking asylum, I was able to begin to work at the hospital.

One wonderful day a few months later, we were finally granted refugee status. But after we got refugee status we had to immediately leave our asylum housing and faced homelessness again. WLW’s Senior Caseworker Alison worked really quickly and managed to find us a private landlord known to the community, who have rented us a flat right here in Hammersmith with a year-long tenancy, close to the kids’ school.

Now I’m working three twelve-hour shifts a week and getting professional training through the NHS to become a nurse. But despite all my shifts I’m still a part of the community at WLW. I still volunteer and am part of the advanced English class. Every week it’s like coming back to my core support system.”

—

Chioma is a refugee community member and volunteer at West London Welcome.