SWAP/Open Eye Hub project: Journeys and push factors
During my time at SWAP I had lots of interesting conversations with participants, which have no real place in any final output we have made - but which my journalistic instincts make me want to share. I do not make a habit of asking people to retell the story of why/how they came to the UK - this is something the Home Office/other authority figures are probably constantly doing. Some people are incredibly private about it, and you can feel the trauma sitting close to the surface when you go near certain subjects. But some freely share this information and actively want to talk about it.
Of those, the reasons were really diverse, as were the people’s backgrounds - some were highly educated professionals, others have lived quite different, more sheltered lives. Some information emerged as snippets of conversation over the course of weeks, while some was written down and handed to me.
I met Iranians who had left because they were unable to practise their Christianity freely and who found their country repressive. An Eritrean who fled conscription to the army - a journey which involved running across borders, travelling across the Sahara in an open truck, crossing the Mediterranean on a small boat, and crossing Europe on foot/stowing away on trains until Calais and the Jungle, until finally hiding in a lorry which went through the Channel Tunnel. This was in the days before the small boats started coming over the English Channel.
Quite a number had fled to the UK as a result of war or civil or ethnic unrest in their own countries. Some were fleeing violent partners - someone lifted up her sleeve to show me large knife scars, while others hinted at similar experiences rather than telling me outright. These women remain fearful of being located in the UK via the extensive diasporic community from their country.
Someone had ended up here after being widowed during the pandemic - the family of her late husband, who she clearly adored, seem to have taken everything from her. Another young woman told me she had been brought to the UK to marry someone but then her future in-laws started to financially exploit her, forcing her to work in car washes for no payment.
Some people flew directly to the UK but there were a number who had come here in small boats, often with kids. I saw one family with a disabled child (a non-mobile 11 year old who was the size of an average five-year-old), who was being pushed around in a buggy. They were desperate enough to get on a dingy. I don’t really know what the answer to any of these issues is, but I know there’s a lot of resilience and courage within this space.