What is it like for young people who arrive in the UK alone, without their family?
This moving article was written by Erdi, one of the young boys who attend our projects. He speaks about the difficulties of being in the UK without his family, and the impact that people such as his social worker have had on his life since being in the UK.
Who makes me happy?
First of all I would like to introduce a little bit about myself. I came to England one year and half ago. I was not able to speak or comprehend English at the time and it was very frustrating. I was living in a care home and went through some hard times trying to learn the language, to learn the system, to make friends and it was very challenging.
The point I am trying to make is that I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of the important people who contributed unbelievable care and introduced me to a world of happiness and satisfaction. I have been fortunate enough to have such wonderful people and make sense of the new world I am in.
My social worker is one of the important people who have played a vital role in my life. She took a huge responsibility and commitment to make a difference in my life. I value and respect her determination and the courage she has to help me get some of the things that I need in order to move forward in life and more importantly happiness. She makes me feel secured and believe that I will overcome my challenges with her support. She is always on my side when things go wrong on a day to day basis and somehow she finds a way to make my life better. She comforts me when I am worried or concern about circumstances and reassures me that I will be alright which reduces the stress and anxiety I experience and promotes a greater level of happiness in my life. Therefore I always feel comfortable to talk to her about any issues to seek support. When I think of the good things she has contributed in my life, it encourages me to work hard and show the world how grateful I am.
Living on the other side of the world far away from my family is the most difficult thing I have experienced in my life. I think we can all agree how difficult it is to live without family especially at a young age as this is the life stage where we all need some guidance and assistant from our family to cope with many new lif challenges. We need someone to encourage us to do well at school, help us to choose the right career, and so on. Unfortunately I couldn’t receive that family support when I first came to this country, although I was able to make contact and have a chat with my parents but it was not enough, and obviously I found it really hard to manage all sorts of things.
However, this is the time when the important people step in and make a difference in my life. My social worker helps me with educational materials such as buying books, computers, and other necessary stuff, which empowers me to be determined with my studies and my career. My teacher also advise me to focus on my education and to do my best to achieve the highest grade as possible.
The perfect day we had together
The perfect day we had with my social worker was on my graduation day from NCS summer project. She supported me to get involved in the project which was a fantastic experience in my life. The project helped me to spend my summer holiday exploring new skills and meet many wonderful young people who grown up in this country. I cannot stressed enough how life changing experience it was, especially for me it was something that gave my life a special meaning. As it was my first year in this country and the fact that my English was not fluent, surprisingly it did not prevent me from having fun and acquiring new skills and capabilities. I was inspired and encouraged by the other young people to get involved with them easily which helped me to learn so many new things from them and form a positive friendship. I learned to believe in myself and give it all I have got to whatever challenge I face and to expect good things to happen. As a result I was able to get the best out of it and gained many new skills.
On the graduation day I invited my social worker and we had a great time together celebrating my achievements. I felt happy and special because of the things I was able to achieve with her support which literally amazed me. I would like to stress it enough the fact that I wouldn’t have accessed all this opportunity that helped me to grow and expand my knowledge without the encouragement and support of the important people in my life.
I have to say that I am so grateful to have such amazing people in my life and be there to help me during the difficult times. They are there to motivate me and make me believe that good things are supposed to happen to me which inspires me to work hard in pursuing my dream. I as an individual from my own experience believe that living in care teaches me a lot. It teaches me to become courageous and to be willing to challenge myself to reach my potential greatness. It makes me believe that with the support of the important people in my life working hard to improve the quality of my care I am stronger than the challenges I face.