Hello,
Paradzai Nkomo emailed the Guardian after reading our first articles in the New Arrivals series. She wanted to share her story, which is a shocking one. She is from Zimbabwe and has been in the UK for 15 years. She claimed asylum, saying that as a gay woman it was not safe for her to live in her home country, however, her claim was rejected, as were her appeals. Stuck in limbo, unable to work, unable to claim benefits, she eventually requested to be deported home, but due to a bureaucratic technicality, this request was also refused.
She is not alone. There are at least 4,900 people in Britain whose asylum cases were rejected but for one reason or another cannot be returned home. As Amelia Gentleman writes in her profile of Nkomo, their fate is a dead-end void in which it is impossible to work, plan, or build any sort of life.
Nkomo ended up homeless, as do many who fall through the cracks of the asylum system. Some of these people were featured in our photo essay on the British people hosting refugees and asylum seekers in their homes. Guardian photographer Alicia Canter visited these new arrivals and their hosts and captured scenes of their lives together, in a beautiful and hopeful story.
If you, like Nkomo, are reading our series and have a story of your own to tell, email me to let me know: kate.lyons@guardian.co.uk
Thanks for reading,
Kate Lyons
