I was born in
Guinea-Conakry, West Africa. Guinea is a beautiful country but it is not a
democracy. When I left, in 2005, it was ruled by a dictator: Lansana Conte. Conte
was the president of a military regime. He ensured country’s wealth stayed at
the top, in the hands of the powerful, and never reached the people. The
minister for the economy, Sidya Toure, was opposed to this and started trying
to change things: reducing the lifestyle of the government and stop paying
wages to protégées. He created a political party, which became very popular,
especially among students.
In 2005 I was
in my third year studying law at University. A demonstration against Conte’s
regime was held near where I live. As Conte drove through the streets people
were shouting and throwing stones. The army, with guns and their intimidation
tactics, responded fast. They started arresting people who lived in the area,
some disappeared, some were killed. They demanded a list of everyone who was a
member of the UFR’s opposition party. My name was on that list. Soon after the
demonstration they came to my house. I was at University but they spoke to my
mother and sisters and asked where I was. Then they came to the campus and asked to
speak to me. At the time I wasn’t worried, I was a student I wasn’t afraid of
anything. They took me to the police station and held me there for two days.
That was not fun, not fun at all, they treat you very roughly. When they let me
out they told me ‘next time we catch you, you’ll be in trouble’. This is how it
starts, they push you and push you harder until one day they frame you with
something and your family will not see you any more. So I went to lay low in
another town called Forecaria, close to the border with Sierra Leone. After
two weeks the police came back to my house. This was different, I knew that if
they found me I would be in serious danger. My Uncle came to Forecaria. He said
‘things are getting really bad, we’ve got to find a way to get you out of here’.
My Uncle’s a businessman, he’s very well-connected, so he took me to Freetown
in Sierra Leone and put me in touch with an agent who came to take my picture.
A few days later he came back with a passport and told me we were leaving. I
asked where we were going but he wouldn’t tell me. When I got to the airport
and saw we were going to England I said ‘What! What am I going to do in England?’
The day after I
arrived in London, the agent took me to the Home Office. I had an interview
with a French interpreter then they put me in a van and took me to
Harmondsworth Detention Centre. Harmondsworth was hard. There are some bullies
down there. The officers…sometimes you can’t blame them, they’re just doing their
job, but sometimes you think…this is too much because when people are in there
they’re stressed. You see that in people’s faces, you see people crying. I just
tried to keep myself busy going to the library and the mosque. After a month I
was told that my claim for asylum had been refused. I went to the court to
appeal, and ten days later they refused that as well. From Harmondsworth I was
taken to Dover detention centre. I stayed there for seven months. All the time
they were saying ‘we’re going to take you to your High Commissioner to issue
your travel document and then we’re going to take you back to Guinea.’ I knew I
would suffer when I got there, but I accepted my position. After five months I
was taken to the High Commissioner, but nothing happened. Two months after that
I met a lady from an organisation that helps people get out of detention. Her
name was Marion. She helped me to apply for bail and on the second attempt it
was granted. Marion arranged for someone to come and meet me and I went to stay
with her in Canterbury. When you come out of detention it affects you to
a point that you don’t even want to watch a film in which there are prisons or
prisoners. It affects you directly, psychologically. But being in detention was
good in some ways, because if something happens to me now I can always think I’ve
been in worse situations.
After two weeks
in Canterbury I contacted a friend in London who said I could stay with him. He
gave me an English grammar book and a dictionary so while he was at work I
started teaching myself English…complicated language isn’t it? I said to myself
the best way to integrate into society is to learn the language. If you can’t
communicate with people you’ve got no chance. I went to the library every
morning and I went through those easy reading books and practiced. The things I
didn’t know I looked up in the dictionary…a lot of memorising. When my friend
got home from work I practiced speaking with him. Don’t worry about making
mistakes, I told myself, just express yourself. My solicitor was saying I
should go to college but I couldn’t because asylum seekers had to pay.
During this
time, in 2006, while I was waiting for the High Commissioner to issue a travel
document I was reporting to the Home Office in Croydon every single week. But
my friend couldn’t afford to give me money for food and transport so I had to
find a job. As an asylum seeker I wasn’t allowed to work but I needed the money
so there was no other way. I thought, even if they catch me I’ll just tell
them, I’m not getting anything from the government, I have to live somehow. I
couldn’t just sit not doing anything. I got a job in the zerox department of a
company. One day they told me they wanted to hire me properly and move me to a
better department, which would have been great, but I couldn’t risk it so I had
to leave. I found another job selling gas and electricity, which paid quite
well. I lived like this for four more years until in 2010 my solicitor wrote to
the Home Office and asked them to review my case. Finally, five years after
claiming asylum, I was granted indefinite leave to remain.
Since I got my
status I’ve done a TEFL course and I volunteer at Refugee and Migrant Network
Sutton helping students in the English class. I’m also doing a journalism
course at the moment but I don’t want to be journalist because my sister is one
and she’ll think I’ve copied her. I’d prefer to work in media communications
and show people what’s happening in my country.
