toast99's Xanga

Mr Fluffy!

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:42:24 GMT

I work for The British Red Cross and the organisation is greatly dependent for its ability to function professionally by relying on the help provided by its valued volunteers. One such volunteer at King's Lynn Centre, where I both work, and live, is the Centre Organiser. This is a chap called Bill, who in his spare time sometimes operates as a childrens entertainer, both as a clown and a magician.

Now I have a somewhat strange sense of humour, and it can manifest, appear at any time. At the Centre a chap called Alex, who manages Emergency Response for The Red Cross in East Anglia is based for a few days a week, and as I am becoming more involved in rolling out Emergency Response volunteer training in West Norfolk we have regular chats. One of these involved the setting up of both Rest Centres and Family Centres and I happened to mention that Bill is a clown.

To look at Bill you would not see a clown in the Krusty mode, but you would take my calling him a clown in the slight insult way....and there would some truth there. However, I can only imagine him performing for kids and a more apt role model for Bill than Krusty I cannot imagine....clipping a kid around the ear for being cheeky, disappearing for two minutes to have a quick fag....but I digress.

Alex at first did not take me seriously, but I had backing from the shop volunteers who knew Bill. The mistake Alex made was to ask me his act name. I was aware that it was Charlie Proper, but I needed a more family friendly name for him, hence Mr Fluffy! Bill is about 6'1", 16 stone and scruffy. A less fluffy-like individual than you could imagine.

Now Alex is such an infectious, optimistic and enthusiastic guy that he proceeded to include this information with all his contacts, and soon the whole of East Anglia were aware of this wonderful clown. Not being able to resist myself I dropped it into a conversation with my line manager who is also responsible for East Anglia, and soon even the Director was aghast at this new persona of Bill, producing incredulity, laughter and disbelief in equal measure.

I did get wind of a letter that Alex was about to send to Bill, addressed to him, but inside the letter it would state...Dear Mr Fluffy...and I thought that I had better come clean. I had visions of Bill's kids reading it and his life would have been intolerable. I also told Bill himself, but gave him such an explanation that even I was convinced it was a genuine error.

Mind you, I phoned him the other week and opened the conversation with,

"Hello, Mr Fluffy!"

"I'll give you Mr fucking Fluffy, Brookes"

I still smile now that to the knowledge of East Anglia, the Centre Organiser of King's Lynn is a clown called Mr Fluffy.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:39:15 GMT

School on Hold While Mom Scrapes By

Le Blog du Congolais shares (FR) the touching story of Carine, a 22 year-old from the DRC with an infectious smile who sells omelettes and doughnuts during school hours:

Today I don’t feel like eating Carine’s omelettes. I can’t fathom why a rather pretty young woman is selling omelettes and doughnuts all day instead of seeking a brighter future. She wants to know why I’m not having anything and I want to know why she isn’t in school. “Because of hard times, she explains, this year Mom decided to send my sister who is in 12th grade and my younger brother and sister … to school. Next year, if Mom can afford it, my brother and I will go.” And if Mom can’t afford school next year? Well, the brother will go and Carine will wait again. She’ll then be 23, the age to be graduating college, but instead she’ll attend 8th grade. Carine’s mom explains to blogger Tony Katombe that her employer, a Congolese airline, hasn’t paid her in several months. She likens her solution to delestage a term used to describe the government’s rationing of electricity by delivering it to different neighborhoods every night. Apparently, Congolese families going through tough times practice delestage when it comes to food rationing as well: boys eat on even days while girls eat on uneven days.

The Congalese Blog

thanks to Global Voices

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 06:04:20 GMT

they may be old but they're still relevant credit to Marc Pageau!

Thank fuck I'm not American!

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 05:59:07 GMT

"GOP Campaign to Focus on Flag Burning, Gay Marriage, Abortion" Iraq is wracked by death and destruction, innocent civilians and US and allied soldiers killed and wounded, Iran is busting its' metaphorical bollocks to obtain nuclear capability to destroy Israel (allegedly, and the Administration don't lie, do they?), how much a barrel is oil?, immigration is just one homeland "problem", the Katrina recovery has stopped, but hey....they are poor and black!...nuff said, and there is no fiscal budget for the coming year.....but what the fuck...the Republicans have to prepare for the November elections....and? George W is in the driving seat....forget Iraq, Iran, immigration.....America must be safe from hordes of flag burning pinko queers, and all those irresponsible women who do not want the responsibility of preserving precious life! Thank fuck they are up to speed on what is really important to their fellow Americans!

Fifth Amendment Cokehead

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:50:31 GMT

I know, an oldie, but a goodie

The reason why Bush is terrified of immigration

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:48:08 GMT

Condi needs a man

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:44:20 GMT

Cheney makes money on ill soldiers

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:42:00 GMT

while Bush profits by sending US soldiers to die in an illegal war,

his sidekick Cheney profits in their illness

wizard of whimsy

Condi soft shoe shuffle

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 18:24:08 GMT

Condi 1: Pupil of Brent Scowcroft, George Bush's national security adviser.....where she learned the republican value of ultimate realism as foreign policy

work with brutal regimes that might, ignoring their faults, work in the best interests of the US....not only sup with the devil but share in the detritus of human history that is created....

Rice was the one person who decided that democratic change in the Soviet Union was not conducive to the US.....ironic eh? Not at all, for the fear and paranoia was needed to drive any republican administration bereft of home economic policies....

when Yeltsin visited the White House she physically blocked the door to the Oval Office so that President Bush would not have to meet him...

Flip Flop Flip Flop

Condi 2: She struck a different tone after the Clinton administration, showing George W Bush in an article written in 2000 that reaching out globally was flawed, mocked "nationbuilding", and called for a narrowly focussed foreign policy.

"The President must remember that the military is a special instrument. It is lethel and it is meant to be. It is not a civilian police force. It is not a political referee. And it is certainly designed to build a civilian society."

Flip Flop Flip Flop

Condi 3: As national security adviser to George W Bush she helped implement a radical foreign policy change....pre-emptive war....an aggressive pro-democracy nation-building agenda....

"punish France, ignore Germany, forgive Russia"

Flip Flop Flip Flop

Condi 4: We now have democratic reform, through co-operation.....working hard to bend to European considerations, working hard to maintain relations with the UN

it is hard to think of any way that US foreign policy would have been any different though if John Kerry was President...

Flip Flop Flip Flop

Friday, February 17, 2006

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 17:21:41 GMT

On Wed 23rd Feb a Judge will decide the future and health of a woman. Here is her witness statement to the Home Office, so what do you think? I have removed her name.

IN THE ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION TRIBUNAL / /2006
YARLS WOOD

******* *****

Appellant
AND

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR
THE HOME DEPARTMENT

Respondent

WITNESS STATEMENT OF THE APPELLANT

I, ******* ***** of Yarls Wood Immigration Detention Centre will state as follows:

1. I was born in Banjul Gambia on the 7th of December 1974. I had one brother and one sister. My brother and father are deceased. My mother lives in Gambia with my son. I have not seen my sister in fifteen years as she was given away by my father to his sister who is childless. My father was originally from Senegal and my sister was taken back to Senegal and I have not seen her since.

2. I had two years of secondary school education but was not able to continue because my father could no longer afford the fees. We lived in a village called Yundim which was about twenty or thirty miles from the capital.

3. I have never been married, my son was conceived as a result of a rape. There was a coup in Gambia in 1994 and a counter-coup in 1997. When the soldiers took over the area they raided the villages and raped many girls including myself. When I realised that I was pregnant I did not want to have the baby. I am a Muslim and having a baby outside of marriage is considered a sin. I could not have an abortion, though, as it is against my religion. I tried to kill myself through an overdose of malaria tablets when I was pregnant, even though this is also forbidden by my religion, but it didn't work and I just passed out.

4. I tried to tie my stomach tightly so nobody would know that I was pregnant but eventually my mother realised that I was. She sent me to my grandmother's house in Cape Town. I stayed their until I delivered the baby in December 1997. I left the child there with my grandmother and she took care of him from 1997 to 1999 when she died. After my grandmother died the child was brought back to my mother. My aunt also lived in Cape Town and she had died in childbirth, and her child died a few weeks later, but most people in the village did not know about the child dying so people were told that it was my aunts child. Because the child is a product of a rape I have never been able to have a relationship with him. I have never held him or bathed him or anything.

5. I started to develop, what I later learned was, rheumatoid arthritis around 1994/1995 but it was not such a problem at that time. At that point it was just a swelling of my knees and ankles. My condition started to worsen in 1998 when it became bad enough that I had to seek medical attention. In around 1998/1999 my parents took me to see doctors at the Royal Victoria hospital and the Amadian hospital. I was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in the capital Banjul on a number of occasions but they did not know what was wrong with me. I was given blood tests and x-rays but they could not diagnose what the problem was.

6. Because the doctors could not find a cure, or even a diagnosis, people in the village started to believe that I was possessed by an evil spirit. I realise in the UK this sort of thing is thought to be ridiculous but in Gambia people very much believe in spirits and black magic. Even my own parents thought that I was possessed and because I did not know any better at that time I also thought that I was. What started as rumours and gossip became the widely held belief of everyone in my village. I lost my friends and people would not even talk to me for fear of the evil spirit. I was taken to the local witch doctor to be treated. This normally involved being bled and then having my blood mixed with oil and leaves and then rubbed on my body. I have thirteen cuts on my body of varying sizes from where I have been bled by witch doctors. I have one on each wrist, one on my left shin, one on my right knee, three on each breast and three on my back. I was cut with a razor blade.

7. I would be kept, by myself, in a room naked and I would have this mixture of my own blood and leaves rubbed on my body. Sometimes I would be left for two weeks at a time and the only time I would see anyone was when they would bring me some food. At night sometimes the swelling becomes worse and I would wake up screaming from the pain. They would then come in and beat me with leafy branches (the same leaves that were used in the paste) until I went back to sleep.
8. Because the treatment never worked and my condition only got worse as time went on I was taken to a variety of different witch doctors in the area who we would hear were particularly good. Once I was taken to one 300 miles away. Some of the other witch doctors would use other methods like putting powder on my body or sacrifice goats and chickens and mix their blood with what ever they were giving me.

9. Things became much worse in early 2000. My grandfather, who was very old at the time, died on a Sunday night and he was buried on the Monday morning. On Monday afternoon my ten-year-old brother, who suffered from asthma, was playing with some friends and suffered an asthma attack. They could not get him to the hospital, which was about twenty miles away, in time and he died. When my father was told the news of my brothers death he collapsed from shock and he never recovered. On the Wednesday night he had died.

10. These were the only three male relatives in my family and they had all died within three days of each other. Everyone in the village blamed the evil spirit they thought was inside me for causing the deaths. At this point everyone believed that there was an evil spirit in me that was killing people and they were all frightened and felt that something had to be done.

11. My tribe practised female circumcision. Every year in the summer they would collect a group of young women who had not been circumcised and make them walk out into the bush where they would stay in a tent and perform the operation. They would be kept in this tent for a few weeks while they healed. I was very much against having this done to me because both my cousin and my best friend died from infections they developed as a result of this practice.

12. When I was younger I had not been circumcised because I was brought up by my grandmother in Cape Town. My mother was sick when I was born and unable to breast feed so my grandmother took me and was able to breastfeed me. I lived with my grandmother until 1993 when she was becoming too old to take care of me so my father decided that I should return to them. Prior to that I would only visit the village and therefore I was able to avoid circumcision.

13. The Home Office has said in their refusal letter that this practice happens from birth to the age of 16 but this is not the case. Firstly, I should point out that in Gambia people do not place so much importance on their age. Many people have no birth certificates and have no idea how old they are. It does not matter how old the girl or woman is, the point is to have it done before a woman is married. My cousin, who died, was about 23 years old when she had it done. If the girl does not have this done it will be shameful to her parents as it will show that she does not have any discipline.

14. The ceremony was a big event every summer and would be planned months in advance. Families would save all of their money and buy clothes and sell their cattle to raise money for the festival. The tent would be built in the bush in advance. A group of men would come very early in the morning and take all the girls who had not had it done. There would not be any chance to escape. I realised this and although everyone would know the month that it happened the day was kept a secret. I would simply leave the village the month that I knew it was going to happen and then come back a week or so after they had taken all of the girls, at which point it would be too late for me to join them. I did this from 1993-1996, in 1997 I was pregnant and staying with my grandmother, and then from 1998-2000 when I left for the final time.

15. After the various doctors and witch doctors could not cure me and everyone was sure that, not only was there an evil spirit in me, but that it had caused three deaths. They therefore became convinced that the reason that the evil spirit was still inside me was because I had not been circumcised and if I was circumcised then I would be cured. I was not going to allow them to circumcise me, but I also knew that it was a matter of time before they would just take me by force. For them it was bad enough that someone who was possessed by an evil spirit was in the village but now they believed that the spirit was killing people. They were not going to allow me to remain uncircumcised when to them this was the obvious solution.

16. At this point in 2000 I decided my only choice was to run away from the village. The only place I could think to go was Serekunda where I had some friends. I would stay with different friends for a few nights and then move to another one so that I did not take advantage of their hospitality. I would only sleep in their houses as I would wear out my welcome otherwise. During the day I would walk down to the beach and just hang around as I had nothing to do. I depended on the charity of others for food, friends and strangers let me eat with them as this is traditional in Gambia and also there was a place that people would donate their left-over food to every night and I would go their with the other homeless people to have dinner regularly.

17. One day on the beach I ran into an English couple, June and David Stanmore, whom I had known since around 1994/1995 when I was a waitress at the Amis Beach Hotel in Cape Point where they would stay. They would come to Gambia regularly and their daughter, Paula, was living there as they were planning to open up a business there. They asked me why I did not work in the hotel anymore and I told them my story. They said that I could come and stay with them in the UK and they sent me a letter of introduction and money to get a passport and ticket. I took it to the embassy and was given a passport, visa and then I was given tickets for a few weeks later.

18. I was very frightened to go, as I had never left Gambia, but because my situation was so miserable in Gambia I thought that I should go because at least I would have somewhere to live for a short while. It was not my intention at that point to remain in the UK. In fact when I first arrived I found everything so different and intimidating that I would cry every day.

19. Before I came to the UK June was diagnosed with liver cancer and three days after I arrived she died. When this happened Paula moved out of the house because she said everywhere she looked she was reminded of her mother and she couldn't take it. David took June's death very badly and started to drink heavily and went mad. He would shout things at me like who are you, why are you here? It was as if he had never met me and I was very frightened and I knew that I could not stay there.

20. I knew that my uncle Malick Cham lived in the UK and I called Serekunda and finally I was able to find somebody who had his telephone number. I called him and he offered for me to come and live with him.

21. After I was in the UK for a HOW MUCH TIME my condition was worsening and I went to see a doctor who took some blood tests and then referred me to a specialist rheumatologist. He diagnosed that I had rheumatoid arthritis and started to give me treatment. I was so relieved that someone knew what was wrong with me and that I was able to get some treatment for it. When I realised that I could get help for my problem I wanted to stay in the UK. I gave my passport to my uncle and explained the situation to him. He said that he would take care of everything and not to worry. Apart from being my elder, my uncle had lived in the UK for fourteen years and was a British citizen. When he assured me that he would take care of everything I had no reason to doubt him. I knew that my visa was only for six months and I asked my uncle about my visa on a number of occasions. He told me that we would have to fill out an application form and send in my passport. He then moved house and in the process lost my passport. He told me that I had to get a new passport from the embassy. He asked me to get him some passport photos which I gave to him. He worked every day from 8-6 and the embassy was not open on weekends so he never had time to go with me. I asked him about it on a number of occasions but he always told me he was too busy but he would deal with it and not to worry. He said that he would explain the situation when he put in a new application. Finally about a year after I came we went to the embassy and completed an application for a new passport. When it arrived he took possession of it and again assured me that he would take care of everything with the immigration service.

22. My uncle seemed ok with me at first and he felt obligated to take care of me but eventually it became clear to me that he also believed that I was possessed by an evil spirit and did not want me in the house particularly because he had children whom he thought it might endanger. He started having a problem with his wrist that he had not had before. It was nothing serious but he automatically suspected it was because of me. When I was living with my uncle his family would not eat anything that I had touched. They would not even wash their clothes in the same load of laundry as mine. One of the main reasons that I wanted to get a job was so that I could buy my own food and I would not have to suffer the indignity of their refusing to eat anything I had been near.

23. When my friend Anna Mandy moved to the UK in August 2004 when she married a British citizen named Tony Brooks. My uncle thought that this was a perfect opportunity to get me out of his house and away from his children. He suggested he would pay for a flat for me to stay in near to Anna so that I would have someone to talk to during the day. I did not mind and was in fact happy to leave. He would send me £70 a week, which was £60 for rent and £10 for food.

24. Anna has been incredibly helpful to me, without her I do not know how I would have been able to manage. She helped with the most basic things like buying my food, combing my hair, and helping me bathe and get dressed. Without her help I would not have been able to manage on my own.

25. I was receiving regular treatment from the doctor both with medication and physical therapy but despite this my condition still deteriorated. I have good days and bad days. On the bad days I would not be able to stand up or use my hands. Because of this my doctor said she could contact social services in order to get me help and through this I met my social worker Caris Jane. She assessed me and said that she wanted to get someone to help me everyday in the morning and the evening but I said that this was not necessary as Anna already helped me. She did, however, provide me with a number of items that made my life much easier. I was given a stand so that the toilet seat was higher as I could not stand up again when I sat down on anything low. I was also given a contraption to help me get out the bath and get out of a chair. I saw her weekly.

26. She told me that I should not stay where I was because I had to climb stairs to get to my flat and that she could arrange for me to be housed on the ground floor. She brought a housing form that she completed because I could not use a pen to write myself. She told me that before she took it she would have to get all of my documents. I gave her my uncle's phone number and she called him. He said he would post the documents. When she received it all had been sent was the new passport and the old passport which he had now found. The old passport was expired and the visa was expired. He had not done anything to legalise my stay in the country. When Caris told me this I almost fainted, I could not believe that he would have done this to me and lied to me all of that time.

27. She said that we would have to get an explanation from him and called him but rather than offering an explanation he just complained that he was paying for me to have a place to live and had to work two jobs in order to do so and that this was causing him problems with his wife.

28. Caris then said that we would have to complete an application to the Home Office. She got an immigration form and we completed it and sent it in with my passport. We did not hear anything back from the Home Office about the application. The first thing I heard was when five immigration officers raided my house at 2:00 in the afternoon. They told me to pack some things because I would not be coming back.

29. I had a hospital appointment and I showed them the appointment card but they told me that I could not go to it and they took away my medication even though I told them that I needed it. I did not have any medication for only 12 hours my joints started to swell up. I was able to see a doctor when I was at the police station he told me that I would have to see a specialist before I could be given any medicine

30. I have seen a doctor in Yarls wood and I have been moved to the disabled room on the ground floor. My knee is still swelling despite having been given medication and I am awaiting the results of blood tests that I have been given and an appointment with a specialist. The doctor at Yarls Wood has written a letter to the specialist about me. Since I have been here my physical therapist sent me some straps for my hands which I wear at night. They are very uncomfortable but they help prevent some swelling. I have been told that the drugs that I am currently taking may effect my kidneys but they have not received the results of the blood tests yet. I have to keep taking them though as my doctor is unable to give me stronger ones or different ones without getting tests and consultation with an expert.

31. If I am returned to Gambia I will be in an extremely bad situation. I will not be able to get the medical help that I need as I will not be able to afford it and this will result in me becoming effectively crippled. When my father died that meant that our family did not have any money. In fact my mother was forced to pay the witch doctor with her clothes because she could not afford his fees never mind a hospitals fees. I realise that the Home Office does not care about the fact that I could not afford medication but this is the simple truth of the situation. Hypothetically speaking though, even if I were able to get the medical care that I need I would not be given the physical help that I need. In Gambia they do not even know what physical therapy is. I would not have anyone to help me with the daily tasks like getting into a bath and combing my hair, shopping, cooking etc. I need someone's help and cannot manage without it. The screening interview has recorded my mother as being 60 years old but this is incorrect. She will be 65 on July 12th 2006. This mistake is irrelevant though as the fact is she is too old and frail to even look after herself never mind the physical things that I would need help with. I have no other family who I could turn to. The friends that allowed me to periodically sleep in their houses will not be willing to let me stay with them all of the time and act as my full-time carers which is what I need to survive.

32. In Gambia there is extremely high unemployment and with my physical condition, quite apart from the fact that people think I am possessed, it would be quite impossible for me to find a job and live permanently anywhere other than my village. In my village they will see that my condition has worsened and that even if I tell them what the condition is and even if I was somehow able to afford medicine it will make no difference to them because unless I am back to normal, which I will never be, they will continue to think that I am possessed by an evil spirit. As this is the case they will continue to think that the reason for this is because I have not been circumcised and they will force me to be circumcised. Even if I am circumcised this would, of course, have no effect on my condition. I would be ostracised by everyone who is afraid to even speak to me. The idea of someone touching me and helping me physically with the most intimate aspects of my daily life would be terrifying to them and no one would do this for me in any event.

33. I want to make something clear to the Court. I just want to get some help with my medical problems. It is my dream to just go 24 hours without pain. The medication that I am currently on is the strongest one that I have used because the previous one was not working. I have to take them for three months before they know if they are working or not. I have been given blood tests but they have not received the results yet. It is possible that this medication is damaging my liver and if so they will have to switch to something else.

34. At the moment I feel worse than I have ever felt. My hands are in wraps and I cannot open my hands at all. Today I could not even lie down. I had to ask people in the detention centre who I do not even know to help me get into bed and to put my clothes on. I have not been able to sleep for three days and I am only able to lie down on my stomach. I have had a nose bleed for the last three days as well and the doctor thinks this may be a result of the medication that I am on. The pain and swelling is the worst that it has ever been and it has now moved to my shoulders where it had never been before. I am in constant pain and I have difficulty concentrating on anything else.

35. My life has been one tragedy after another. I am never long without pain, I have been ostracised by almost everyone I know, I cannot have a relationship with my child. I am blamed for the deaths of my loved ones. Although I attempted suicide once many years ago I cannot do so now because I know that it is against my religion and a sin. If this were not the case I would certainly kill myself rather than put up any longer with what has been a miserable existence for me. I cannot say strongly enough that it was not my intention to break the immigration rules, this only happened because I was misled about my situation by my uncle. All I want is the chance to get the medical treatment that I need in order to live a semi-normal life. I only hope that the Court will be able to see what I have said is the truth and grant me this opportunity.

COMMENTS ON REFUSAL LETTER AND INTERVIEW

36. During my interview I tried to give more detail about what happened but the interviewing officer seemed to be concerned with ending the interview before the lunch break at 12:00, presumably so that she did not have to come back again at 1:30 when it was finished. When I tried to give more detail she told me that I could tell my solicitor whatever I wanted to say later. I have done this in my statement but I want it to be clear that I was not given an opportunity to properly explain the situation and this seems to have resulted in them forming a very basic and misunderstood version of my case.

37. Paragraph 8 As I have mentioned about my arthritis started around 1994 or 1995 but it became worse in 1998. It is correct to say that this is when my problems started but I actually developed the problem earlier.

38. Paragraph 9 I did not say that they got the witch doctor to kill me I said they got him to cure me. My solicitor has told me that because of my accent when I say the word cure in English it sounds as if I say kill. Clearly I did not say that the witch doctor was going to kill& me as if that was the case I would have been killed a long time ago.

39. Paragraphs 21-23 The fact of the matter is in Gambia the Government does not stop FGM. The practice is wide-spread and every woman in the Mandinka tribe is forced to have it done to them. The former president who was in power before the coup in 1997 was a Wolof and he had tried to stop it but the current president is from the Jola tribe and is from a village rather than a city. The Jola tribe are essentially the same as the Mandinka and believe in these traditions. This president does not want to stop the practice and there is nowhere to go to for help.

I confirm that the contents of this statement are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signed:

Dated:

Gambia was under British protection until Feb 18th 1965. English is taught in Gambian schools. In colonial times, the Gambian people were told that the British were their metaphorical parents. Is this the way to treat a child, albeit one slightly wayward?

It is hard to quantify the fear that she holds if she is deported back to The Gambia. Not only the fear of Female Genital Mutilation, but the certainty that she will be crippled within a matter of years. While there are many other people in this situation worldwide who have to live with the consequences of their illnesses, is it too much for a wealthy country to provide health for this woman? I am aware that she is here illegally, but should a woman from a small Gambian village be criminalised for being naive and trusting her uncle to remedy her situation? Some context must be placed here, she is not deliberately abusing the system and fraudulently claiming money, she is trying to live as pain free as possible.

I, for one, am praying that she is allowed to stay.