Fighting for warmth, searching for food and playing a slightly more real-istic version of hide and seek with the French border police. For migrants in the Port of Calais, this is a daily rou-tine.

Refugees embark on hazardous jour-neys, in search of a better life. And in the mind of the asylum seekers living in the poor make shift shelters of the “Jungle” next to the port, that happier life is in Britain.

Amanda Jones, 38, a social worker at Rainbow Haven said, “For many, Brit-ain is a flagship for human rights, a nation were you’re treated as an equal, regardless of your religion or ethnicity. A country where the government pro-tects your freedom of speech all the time, not just when it suits them, one of the small things most of us living in the UK take for granted.”

The jungle is a wooded camp just out-side the Port, at last port of call for asylum seekers heading to the UK, before crossing the English Channel, or la Manche as the French call it. At first sight you’d think the Jungle was a refugee camp, but you’d be wrong. No government aid is given to those who live there, and a dependence on the kindness of Calais’ residents and chari-ties like SALAM for food and clothing has become apparent since the French government closed the Red Cross center in November 2002.

Journeys into Europe begin with smuggling rings, for a price they will get you to Europe - but with no safe-ty guarantees. Asylum seekers travel for days over land and sea, and death seems like the next best option should they not find what they’re seeking. The human smuggling industry has

thrived out the chaos and conflicts in lesser economically developed coun-tries. Libya, a country that’s seen po-litical turmoil since the toppling of the Gaddafi regime in 2001, is used as a gateway to Europe by many of world’s largest trafficking gangs. Many who are making this journey are subjected to abuse and hard labour, with some even forced into the smuggling trade them selves.

Many British residents believe the island hosts the most asylum appli-cants in Europe, this is incorrect. In 2013 Germany received the most asy-lum applications in Europe followed by France, and then Sweden. Britain was ranked fourth, receiving just over 29,400 applications.

A Journey For a Better Life

Of those who have claimed asy-lum in the UK, not all are entitled to work, and only a small proportion are granted that right. Currently, the gov-ernment gives an allowance of £5.23 per person, per day, which equates to £36.52 per week. Housing is also pro-vided, but asylum seekers have no say in where they stay.

Abdul Sala, 23 from Sudan has re-ceived refugee status in the UK after he claimed asylum in May 2011.

Abdul spent two years of his life mak-ing his way to the UK, and it cost him around £2000 for the priviledge. Ab-dul left Sudan at the age of 18 with two friends but lost contact with them on his journey to Europe. Abdul was surprised how different England was compared to mainland Europe, he said; “England was different to how I thought it would be. When the police caught me in Dover, the first thing they did was ask If I wanted to call my fam-ily. They put me in jail but it was ok, they gave me Halal food and water.”

Abdul says that not being fluent in English is a problem for him living in the UK, he said, “I find it hard to make

friends here but this is because of the language, I do study English in college and welcome centers.”

Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) Rainbow Haven, offers sup-port to migrants and refugees in the Greater Manchester area. Project Co-ordinator Sisay Kihan, 33, was once an asylum seeker herself, hailing from Ethiopia in East Africa, who came to Britain at the age of 16.

Many of the asylum seekers Sisay works with at the center are aged be-tween 20-25, she said, “Most of them are lying about their age. For example we had one boy who said he was, 23 but when we questioned him thor-oughly he turned out to be 18, they do this to help bump their asylum applica-tion but you can see they are children from looking at their faces.”

If a child comes to England to seek refuge with no guardian, the asylum process is different, Sisay said, “If it’s obvious the asylum seeker is under they age of 18, the local authority will take over the situation and social ser-vices will either put them in foster care, or a home until the home office looks at their case.”

Graph by Kiays Khalil showing the nuber of asylum applications recieved in 2013 data from the British Home Office

French police hold stand off with protesters and migrants out side Calais ports Photgraph by Jey O-H

By Kiays Khalil - Asylum seekers fleeing conflict are risking their lives over land and sea for a life in Europe

What Britain has to Offer

The Helping Hands

Miles From The Mediterranean

It was night when I saw a light it was coming from the Greek coast guard they drew theri weapons and began to speak to me in Greek but I didn’t understand so I replied back in Arabic and then 10 more boats came. They took me to land and put me in jail. I showed them my asylum case but they didn’t care they told me I couldn’t stay here in Greece and they let me go free. In Greece I slept on the streets and only got money from nice people who gave me euros or food. Living on the streets was very dangerous its different to the rest of Europe It was strange I didn’t feel like I was in the EU. I found a little work picking or-anges but they took advantage of me and didn’t pay me in full they did this to most asylum seekers. I travelled to Athens and I saw many people from Europe on holiday, on the beach I herd two guys speaking Arabic they were Iraqi but born in Britain. I approached them a began a conversation they told me to go England because I would be safe and treated good by the people.

The journey from Greece to Italy was very dangerous more dangerous than my trip from turkey. I had to hide under a lorry holding on to the axels for seven days with no food, no water and no toilet. Its very dangerous if you lose grip you will die, the lorry could crash or a bump in the road and could make you fall off. We went through seven boarders at the last boarder I could here people speaking Italian they checked the truck but they didn’t find me after this I said alhamdulillah (thank god) I had left Greece.

After two hours the driver stopped and in the morning I crawled from un-der the lorry. I didn’t know what day it was but Italy was beautiful, I met a good Somalia man he let me stay at his house for two days, he fed and clothed me too. He told me Italy is no good, France is no good he told me to go

somewhere else England, Sweden, Holland, Denmark or Germany. The Somalia man gave me a train ticket to France but on the train the ticket man rang the police when he saw I had no passport and I was arrested. In the jail they asked me where I was going and where I was from then they me go.

I made my way to Calias and stayed outside the port in the jungle for three months, I saw too many people here from Syria, Sudan and all over. I was weak hungry and tired so I rested un-til I had enough energy to travel to England. The French boarder police caught me three times and they just let me go after I was caught, they didn’t do anything. I got into England by climbing a tree then jumping on to the moving train once I was inside I hid in a lorry.

When I arrived in Dover the lorry driver found me I tried to runaway but I didn’t have any energy. He grabbed me and called the police, after some time in jail the police let me go and they sent me to London where I began my asylum application.”

In the past two years Rainbow Haven have been receiving more migrants at their doorstep than ever before. The two dominant nationalities have pri-marily been Syrians and Eritreans but with so many asylum applicants - who decides which story’s are true and which ones are false? Sisay explained how the process works, “Within the UK border agency there is a depart-ment called Immigration, who basical-ly have their eyes on people who are claiming asylum. They set up a case for the individual who will be interviewed many times and questioned thoroughly like a police interview, looking for them to slip up. They ask around 100 to 200 questions about their journey, what happened, why they don’t feel safe and so on. That’s when they will make their decision to grant either full protection which is refugee status and they give them the right to stay for five years which is expandable, or they could give them discretional leave which is a three year visa which is when you don’t check all the refugee boxes but its still un-safe for you to go home. For example people known as stateless people like Palestinians will be given this its deter-mined by the Home Office.”

The survival rate for those making the journey to Europe is 50%. The num-ber of deaths is at all time high and the UN has estimated more die crossing the Sahara than the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, European leaders are cutting down the number ships post-ed in the Mediterranean, as they fear more will attempt the journey if there is better chance of survival. Sisay said, “I think something needs to be done to stop people from dying who are on their way to safety. Younger and young-er children are leaving home.”

The smuggling season starts in April and is just around the corner, with con-flicts across the Middle East and North Africa not showing any signs that they are coming to an end, 2015 is set to be a busy year for migrant traffic.

Who Determines The Case

“The Sudanese government wanted take me out of school they wanted me to sign a conscript and join the army. I had four friends from school three joined the army but one told them no, he was found dead shot in the head.

I told the government no and they put me in jail for three weeks. They tried to convince me to join by saying they would give me money, a car and a holiday, but I said no I don’t want this job. So they came with hot water and threw it at me, they would punch and kick me too.

In jail I asked the government to give me time to decide, they let me go but told me I only had two weeks to sign the conscript if I didn’t join they said they will come kill me.

My sister sold all her silver and gold and got £500, she gave it me. Me and my sister went to the city Khartoum and met a smuggler. He married my sister then he took me to the Libyan boarder, but he would not take me any further he was scared of entering that country.

I had to walk in the desert for five days the smuggler gave me two litters of water and three breads. I had to be careful with my water I took little sips everyday. There were seven of us, we walked through the desert and some nights I would not sleep I would just carry on walking.

I ended up in Tripoli and started working on a farm but they never paid me they just gave me food and shel-ter. After two months I asked my boss to take me to Egypt and he made a phone call arranged the trip. In Egypt I worked for four months and I saved a little money for the journey, I gave this to another Egyptian man and he agreed to smuggle me to turkey.

In Turkey I ran out of money it was cold and I didn’t have the proper clothes for winter. I spent most nights in the Mosque people were nice there. I met one Turkish man who let me stay at his home he told me if I stay in tur-key it would be very hard for me to find work because I don’t speak Turkish. I told him I would do any job I just need money to go Greece he then called someone and arranged me a place on a smugglers boat for me.

When I got to the boat I didn’t have money to give to the smuggler he said, “ok come maybe you die maybe you don’t its your decision” I had no choice. There were five people on the boat all from Africa. The boat was go-ing up and down and one of the pas-sengers fell out as we were driving but the driver carried on, they have a differ-ent mentality to us. The boat hit a wave and it capsized many people drowned because they couldn’t swim. I would of helped but I was tired and weak I thought if they grabbed me they would pull me down and I would die too. I could see a tree far away sticking out of the water I swam to it but the oth-er people on the boat could not swim that far. I spent one day up the tree I thought to myself maybe I swim and die or maybe I die here I didn’t care anymore. So I waited for the sea to go calm and began swimming.

The Expedition of a Refugee

BY Kiays Khalil – Abdul Sala claimed political asylum in the UK in fear his government would harm him. This is his personal story of how he made it from Sudan to the UK.

“He was found dead”

“I had to walk in desert for five

days ”

“I had to hide under a lorry, holding on to the axle’s for seven days with no food, water or toilet.”