Just after lunch my phone goes, private number, so shall I answer? I do and it is my asylum seeking friend, she is crying and I become desperately worried, why isn't she using her own phone? She explains that the phone is at Solace www.solace-uk.org.uk and hands me over. It is the best news in the world, she has been given leave to stay for 5 years, no wonder she is crying. I speak to her again and amidst the joy and the tears remember to check on her boiler; someone has been round and has ordered a part.
It has been just over 3 years since we first met, through LASSN lassn.org.uk/ . She was incredibly vulnerable, there have been so many downs and only a few ups. But in all that time she has helped as many people as have helped her, a true friend to many. They all wrote to the Home Office supporting her claim, perhaps some of that helped, we shall never know.
The weeks ahead will not be easy; she will have to move again and work her way through the labyrinth that is today's social security system. However I know that as soon as she can she will be contributing back to the community in Leeds that has given her so much support.
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| my battered UK passport, maybe one day my friend will have one too |
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