Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to read this and possibly considering donating to the cause.

The shorter version:

I'm sure lots of you are familiar with Tesfay's story and maybe you've even been lucky enough to meet him over the past few years. If you aren't or need a reminder, he is an Eritrean Asylum Seeker, who like so many, came to the UK in search of a better quality of life six years ago. Unfortunately he has had two unsuccesssful attempts at seeking asylum in the UK refused on the grounds of 'no proof of his Eritrean nationality'. To put this into context, he was ten years old when he left Eritrea with nothing in his pockets - no passport, no birth certificate...no documents. His journey to the UK is one I wouldn't wish upon anyone and was fraught with danger. Three years ago the Link family were lucky enough to meet him at an event in Birmingham called Local Welcome. My mum started teaching him to swim (incredible for someone who nearly drowned at sea), then it was swimming and beans on toast, then it was swimming, beans on toast and English lessons and now, quite simply he is part of the family. My mum is doing everything she can to navigate the ridiculous legal system that the UK has in place (I have no idea how people do this when English is not their first language... it is Tesfay's fourth language). Unfortunately as he is on his third claim he is no longer eligible for Legal Aid and this is where you come in. If you're able to donate (even a small amount) to the estimated Legal fees it will make this young man smile from ear to ear (he does that a lot anyway despite everything he has been through). We feel incredibly privileged to have him as part of our family and would do anything to help him succeed.

The longer version:

Something I wrote for The Guardian a while back, but they didn't publish so wanted to share it here with you:

A typical Sunday for me involves pulling on a Clapton CFC shirt and playing 90 minutes of the beautiful game somewhere in London. However, the start of the season in 2019 looked a little different after suffering an Achilles injury. So instead of rocking up to a pitch I was trying to busy myself by doing other activities and trying not to think too much about missing the game.

One Sunday afternoon towards the end of September I found myself back at my parent’s house in Birmingham. My mum and Dad had booked tickets that afternoon to a charity event called Local Welcome. Local Welcome is a charity connecting asylum seekers with the communities they have come to join. A five-pound ticket entitles you and an asylum seeker to a cooked lunch together and you make it side by side. My Dad suggested that I went with my Mum instead, so off we went to a small church hall a stone’s throw from our house. Inside we were greeted by a number of people, getting to know each other and chatting. My mum and I were seated at the same table and next to her sat a young man from Eritrea. Two things caught our attention; one – he decided to wear his sunglasses when cutting up the onions and two – he said his favourite food was raw meat. In both these circumstances his cheesy grin beamed at us and he erupted into a fit of giggles. By the end of the session my mum (a swimming teacher) had offered to teach him how to swim – he’d said he’d love to learn. One week later (with a mishap in between – wrong pool location) they went for their first swimming lesson. Hand on heart I remember being a bit apprehensive about them meeting up, my mum with a young man we hardly knew, but I couldn’t be more wrong. The swimming lessons became a weekly fixture, followed by beans on toast back at home. For someone who nearly drowned trying to get here, his resilience to learn was inspiring. I knew he was increasingly becoming part of the family when I called my mum and they were off dog walking together before heading to the nature centre to learn about the animals. Since then we’ve chatted about everything from geography and space to acting out how molecules move in solids, liquids and gases. In many ways he fits right into the Link family. He absolutely loves football so once my Achilles healed, we were off kicking the ball down the park and he became the proud owner of a pair of boots for Christmas last year.

Being an asylum seeker in this country comes with its challenges. Luckily, he is supported by some great charities like the Red Cross and the Hope Project. Whilst they provide support and activities, what Tesfay really wants is to be granted asylum. He’s 26 years old (or at least we think he is, documentation in Eritrea isn’t popular, one of the many barriers to the asylum seeker process) and he just wants to get on with his life. He’s got aspirations just like you and me and at the moment it’s all on pause. He’s had numerous solicitors and it really does feel like you’re guilty until proven innocent. My mum has been unbelievable in contacting people, helping to gather documents and will devote days to researching. She really has taken him in as a son and the love they have for each other is heart-warming to see, he even calls her mum. All I want is for him to be here legally and given the opportunity to succeed at life, no-one would make the journey he did if they weren’t desperate for safety and a better future.

We recently held a birthday party for him (he’d never had one before), and whilst he says he was born on 1st January at midnight, we decided to opt for August 18th as his new official birthday. We played games, ate cake and gave him some presents (mostly related to football and cycling). At the end of the evening he said; ‘thank you so much for everything and making my life better’ and I said, ‘No Tesfay, thank you so much for coming to the UK, you’ve made our lives so much better’. I couldn’t imagine life without him, we will do everything we can to help him make the UK his forever.