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Can’t Stay. Can’t Go. Refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned
that they should give £50 a day, they will give
you £20. You need money. You can either
have something or nothing. So you take it and
you are glad just to have something. They are
happy; you are happy. But it gives you a down
feeling. Like you are less. (Faheem, Palestine)
The Red Cross, charities and churches
The Red Cross provides a small amount of timelimited support to this destitute group:
Red Cross give you some money – a little
bit of money – but it helps a lot. I don’t need
much – just a little bit of tuna and some bread.
(Faheem, Palestine)
Our refused asylum seekers mentioned support
from various charities. Walid (Algeria) gets £15 per
week from West End Refugee Service, a registered
charity in Newcastle upon Tyne that supports
asylum seekers and refugees. Kasim (Iraq) is
given £10 per week by Justice First in Stocktonon-Tees, while City of Sanctuary Wakefield gives
Samir (Algeria) £10 each week.
Aman (Iraq) has been referred to a local church
by the Glasgow Red Cross. The church gave
him some money on two occasions. He also
gets some money from the community-based
organisation Govan and Craigton Integration
Network: “Every week she gives me £4.” Aman
finds it difficult to ask for money, especially as he
comes from a wealthy family in Iraq:
Really, I just feel embarrassed. I don’t like to
continue going, begging. Because I haven’t
got used to a situation like that. I was living in a
very luxurious, good family. (Aman, Iraq)
3.3.4 Priorities when you have money
Faheem (Palestine) spoke of the importance
of making any money you have last as long as
possible:
If you have money, you don’t spend it all
at once. You spend pound by pound. You
squeeze that £20 pounds you got, because
you don’t know when you might get something
again. You can’t just spend it on nice food.
How are you going to get food when it’s gone
– you can’t steal it. (Faheem, Palestine)
When he has money, Dawit (Eritrea) prioritises
food. Kayla (Zimbabwe) prioritises food and
toiletries. When Violet (Zimbabwe) has money,
her priority is to give it to the friend she stays
with to put towards groceries for the household.
Walid (Algeria) buys “things like food, sandwiches
sometimes; or a cheap jumper from Oxfam shop,
charity shop; sometimes socks”.
The lack of money can be dehumanising:
Sometimes I keep some money to have a
coffee in the morning in Caffè Nero, Costa, to
feel like I’m still living. I mean I’m not an animal.
They think I’m an animal. No, I’m human like
anyone, yes. (Walid, Algeria)
You want to see people, go to coffee shop; you
want to go somewhere, you can’t. Sometimes,
some friend say, “Can we go in coffee shop?”
You shy to say, “I’m homeless”. You shy to say,
“I don’t have money, and I don’t have support”.
You make up something. You say, “Truly sorry,
I’m busy”, or something. (Kasim, Iraq)
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