Arjeta

Where are you at right now?

I got my refugee status and I started studying law this year. I finished exams in Albania and I didn’t have the chance here for years to have an education because I was being moved all the time by the Home Office from place to place and I was doing therapy and didn’t have chance to start college or sixth form or anything. Then I finally got the chance to apply for university.

I got the inspiration to do law when I was involved with Shpresa – going there made me feel more hope. To be honest I was inspired by my lawyer. Finding a legal aid lawyer who really cared for you was so rare.

It’s a bit hard – the language barrier is so hard, not having English as my first language. All the other students were born here, and they are all 18 years old. And I have to care for my family.

The first week I went, I was so prepared – I read a lot, I even read for the next week, and I was the only one talking. That’s because it’s like a dream, going to university – it’s something that I never thought I could do here.

In Albania I wasn’t allowed to start university. And when I came here at the beginning it was so hard – you don’t think about university, you don’t think about the future, you just think about tomorrow: will I sleep tonight, will I be safe tomorrow? You feel like everyone is judging you. Especially when we came to the UK, there were protests and it was scary to go out.

But thank God things are better, much better, now we are settled, me and my family. Having leave does give you a second life. You feel safe. But the fear does not just go when you get leave. The trauma is not healed, the depression doesn’t just go away: getting leave just helps you a little bit to heal. You don’t have to deal any more with lawyers, court and the Home Office so you have free time and peace of mind, and you can heal.

Other students talk about going for holidays, meeting families and relatives, but for me, I don’t have anyone in the UK, I’m just different.

I am doing my first-year law modules now. I’m the first person from the family who is doing a higher degree. I feel that asylum seekers, refugees, young people who go to university or to sixth form – they can be more mature than children who are born here. For us it is a big opportunity where we will give back to the country, which we could not have done in our own country.

I want to finish my degree. I want to work and do something and volunteer and help especially Albanian children who face a lot of discrimination – it feels like everyone is against us. I love helping people and I want to help as many people as I can. I want to be a good lawyer and people will say “Let’s go to her office because she is so nice and so kind and she will help us.”

What would you tell your younger self?

Everything that happens has a reason, everything has a solution, and you need to not give up, and to be patient and to dream.

Focus on yourself, never let yourself down. You have protection here, but you need to feel safe here. It’s so hard to feel safe. But you just need to know that when you are having a hard moment, giving up is not a good solution: talking to others and getting help is the best solution. Talking to a GP for example and not giving up. Do your best, don’t let yourself down. Everyone can dream, and dreams can come true.

What would you like to share to other young asylum seekers?

Not everyone’s case is the same: even people who come with the same problems, from the same country – it’s about how the Home Office deals with that.

And don’t give up: there is light at the end of the tunnel. Even if you get a negative decision it’s not the end of the world – there is a solution, there are a lot of people to support you, and you just need to find the place and the connection that will really help you.