Florence
This page tells the story of Florence (not her real name), who came to the United Kingdom under the Gateway Protection Programme and is now settled in Bolton, Lancashire. Florence was helped to settle here by Refugee Action, which provides the Gateway resettlement service in that area.
Florence has now completed courses in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and numeracy, and is currently working as a carer in a residential home.
Here is her story, in her own words.
'Before the war [in the Democratic Republic of Congo], we lived a normal, happy life with my brothers and sisters, my father and stepmother. We had a community, there would be groups for young people and adults that you joined in your area, and we did community activities like cleaning the roads, playing basketball and football and so on.
'Trouble broke out in 1998. My mother had been half-Rwandese and we had problems - mixed people were seen as suspicious because the Rwandans were involved in the war.
'One day the rebels rounded up all the students in a square and asked them to join. We said no. Then, when I got back to my house I found they had come to look for me. My aunt told me the rebels had taken my photo from my student ID. My stepmother told me leaving was the only thing to do.
'I left the Congo in October 1998 when I was 19 years old. When I had to flee, I was studying medicine at Bukavu University. I wanted to be a doctor.
'I was scared mostly of being raped, which they did to people who wouldn't join them. I decided to go to Goma. I thought it might be peaceful. When I got there it was even worse, as I passed on the road people shouted "Tutsi". I decided to go to Uganda on advice. I walked and only carried my university bag on my shoulder, which contained some papers and my student ID card without the picture. I still had those papers when I got to the UK.
'Two days into my walk, I met some soldiers who were coming from Uganda. They forced me to turn around and go back again. They made me carry their bags, which was very heavy. I was with them for one week. When we got near to Goma airport, firing broke out and I could escape. I left their bags but took my own and ran for a long time. I then met an old man who took me in and treated me for all my injuries with traditional medicine. I stayed there for five days. He got hold of some people who were going to Uganda, and they took me to Kampala.
'I went to the police, but was afraid to go into the camp. I stayed instead in a Pentecostal church. They had a room for prayers. I could not get a job because the jobs were for Ugandan people, but I did plait hair and I sewed and made some clothes.
'When I found I was going to be resettled, I was happy that all my problems would be over - it wouldn't matter if I was Rwandese or Congolese, that would all finish. I knew nothing about England and learned about it in cultural orientation.
'I was very happy when I came to Bolton, though the darkness and the coldness was difficult to get used to - though when I was in Africa I complained it was too hot! I was pleased with the flat, but it did take some getting used to living on my own.
'Refugee Action have helped me a lot. Imagine if they just brought us here and we had to learn where the college was and how to shop here and how to organise everything. In our house, my father had dealt with all of that. One of my main problems was understanding bills, and my caseworker was so helpful. She was patient and kind and explained it all to me. I couldn't speak much English either, but I was helped to enrol in college and soon I will have an equivalent GCSE.
'I am very keen to do an Access to Nursing degree, and hope to one day become a doctor still. I hope to go to Salford Uni. I am also a part-time care assistant now.
'The strangest thing about England is making friends. In Uganda, in one or two weeks you are friends with your neighbour. Here people stay on their own.
'Now in my typical week I work and go to college, and I also have a new friend down my street. I also have a mentor through Refugee Action's Time Together scheme, who I see once a week. We do English practice and sometimes we go to the cinema. I go to church on a Sunday and I make dresses in the summer for other Gateway clients.
'I hope one day to visit Uganda but I do not want to go back to Congo. People are still in danger in Congo. The UK can't take everyone, though, so the West must work to bring peace to Africa.
'I live a good life now, and sometimes when I think of the people still there I feel bad. When I eat, sometimes I think about how some people have nothing and I lose my appetite.'
(We are grateful to Florence and Refugee Action for their permission to publish this story.)