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Can’t Stay. Can’t Go. Refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned
Going to college or university
Aman (Iraq) and Bisrat (Eritrea) would like to go
to college and Bisrat dreams about being an
engineer. Enaya (Palestine) was offered a place to
study law but, as a refused asylum seeker, has no
access to student finance:
Why do you keep people like that? Let us
study, let us work. That would make life feel
different. How can you leave people like that
without learning and work? If you leave people
like that, they learn to hate not love…. Let us
give something back; we don’t just want to
take. (Enaya, Palestine)
Having accommodation
Both Aman (Iraq) and Zareb (Sudan) feel that
having somewhere to live is the most important
change that would improve their lives. Zareb
(Sudan), who lives in a night shelter, stressed how
he just wants a quiet, safe place to be alone. He
lacks privacy and wants time to himself, without
other people around.
Having money
Anwar (Somalia) feels money would change his life:
I need money to make me happy... it’s not
happy. You can have money and still not be
happy... but still it can give you life. You can
think I will live... I will live again tomorrow. For
me, today is the end, I don’t think that I will live
again tomorrow... When I wake up morning, I
say “God bless me, still I’m alive.” It’s like that.
I’m tired; serious. You don’t know how I feel in
my heart, but for me I’m tired. (Anwar, Somalia)
Having a solution
All that Joshua (Ethiopia) wants is a solution –
whether that is going home or being granted status:
Yes, all I need is solution. I don’t need money, I
don’t need nice house, I don’t need insurance
number. I don’t want nothing. I want solution.
(Joshua, Ethiopia)
3.16.2 Red Cross staff
We also asked caseworkers what they thought
could be done to improve the situation for their
clients who are living in limbo.
Recognise the difficulty of acquiring documents
and support the re-documentation process
Four of the six Red Cross staff members want
the Home Office to recognise how difficult it is for
people to obtain documents from embassies:
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