Françis wants to give back

We recently caught up with Françis, who, having first visited the Centre in 2015, now has refugee status, a place he calls home, and will soon graduate with a Masters’ degree and become a Trustee of the Centre. We learn about his inspirational journey.

When Françis first came to the Centre in 2015 he was a destitute asylum-seeker with a failed claim.

“I couldn’t find a way out,” he says. “I was nervous all of the time. You can be arrested or sent back.”

At that time, he had no legal right to work and had no recourse to public funds. “I was feeling distressed, my anxiety was getting higher every day,” he explains.

Now, seven years on, sitting on a bench in the sunshine outside our Christ Church site, life looks very different. Françis has refugee status, he is studying for a Master’s degree in data analysis and he has just been appointed as Trustee on our Board.

What made the difference? He smiles. “The Centre helped me to survive. They helped me to keep on going. They helped me to dream again and to look forward again and plan again and to see there is something around the corner – that I should hold on.”

As with so many people, it was a friend who first introduced Françis to our services. “When I got to the Centre that first day everyone was very kind, the volunteers, the staff, everyone. There were some activities going on: reading, singing, English lessons. After I was registered they asked me to choose one of those activities and to start doing it.”

Remembering this, he laughs. “It is not easy sometimes for a grown man to go and do certain activities, sometimes it is a bit funny. But, when you start doing those activities, you start enjoying the moment. It is your way out in your mind.”

Over the next three years, Françis became a regular at the Centre.

“I started to think I shall do something with my life, regardless of the fact that I was an asylum seeker with a refused case. I started planning that I would go to Uni. Those activities at the Centre put you in a state of mind where you can plan for the future, where you can say: ok, I will do this.”

Our Support Service referred Françis to a partner organisation which helped him to find a solicitor and make a fresh asylum claim. In 2018, he heard the fantastic news that refugee status was granted.

Françis continued to come to the Centre regularly – often five times a week – and in 2019 he was offered a place to study data analysis at the University of East London.

Now, he has refugee status, a place to live and he will soon graduate with a Masters’ degree. So, what next?

He looks surprised. “I am going to find a job,” he says. “And, I want to do something for the Centre. The Centre helped me, and now I want to help those people coming.”