• I am an asylum seeker from Afghanistan
• I claimed asylum in the UK because my brother was killed in Afghanistan and my father was arrested. I had to leave and arrived to UK in March 2002. I was 17 years old when I arrived and claimed asylum.
• I was not aware to which European country I would end up. I just felt that I needed to get to Europe to find safety.
• After being in UK for a few months I was granted exceptional leave to remain by the Home Office for four and a half months  until my 18th birthday. At the time I was entitled to help from a solicitor and with her help I applied for an extension of my leave to remain in the UK. About the same time NASS advised me to move from Manchester to Nottingham, which I did; but after two weeks in Nottingham they terminated my support.
• However, my asylum case was still outstanding and I approached a Job Centre and I was also advised to approach the Homeless Persons Team. I was offered a Council flat. Due to my young age I was of the opinion that it was important for me to get some further education, as I was unable to go to school in Afghanistan most of the time.  However, the Job Centre told me that I had to find a job. I did find a job with a local supermarket. I was very happy at the time; after a long ordeal, I felt like I’d started rebuilding my life. I felt useful. I painted and decorated a flat myself and started gradually from my salary buying necessary furniture and appliances. I was finally able to support myself and thought that the hard times I’d been through in Afghanistan were finally over.
• Suddenly everything changed again. I had an interview with the Home Office and during the actual interview I was told that I could not carry on working. I resigned from my job shortly after that. About a month later I received a letter from the Home Office advising me that my asylum application was refused. I went to see my solicitor, but she advised me that I’d have to pay £600.00 for any further representation. I had managed to save a bit of money, but with no job and no income I had spent it paying the rent and the Council Tax. Therefore I was unable to pay the solicitor's fees. I was desperately trying to find another solicitor that could help me, but was unable to find any. With no income I was also unable to carry on paying the rent and one day representatives from the Council came to the property and changed the locks. I had to leave all the furniture, appliances and my belongings behind and ended up on the street with no money to live.
• I couldn’t afford to buy any food and I didn’t have anywhere to sleep. I would walk all night around the city and sleep in the daytime in the park. I became very depressed, hopeless and felt that I didn’t know what I was doing. At one moment I jumped into the canal from the bridge and ended up in hospital. When I was discharged from the hospital I was on the streets again. I was surviving on the generosity of some local people that would buy me food from time to time.
• One day I found £10 at the tram stop and decided to go somewhere else where I hoped I could get some help. I had just enough money to travel to Birmingham. I was very hopeful that I would get more help in Birmingham because I couldn’t think of anything else. However, I found it even more difficult because I didn’t know anybody in Birmingham and didn’t know where to go.
• I decided to go to the police and asked for help. They just kicked me out of the police station saying that they were not able to help me.
• I felt completely lost and at that moment I took 28 tablets sleeping tablets outside of the police station. I dodn’t know what happened after that, but the next day, about 30 hours later, I woke up in the hospital connected to various machines and tubes. I was very angry when I woke up. I stayed in a City Hospital for about a week. When I was discharged the hospital staff told me that I should go to Midlands Enforcement Unit in Solihull
• I was very hopeful that the Immigration Service would be able to help me, but when I went there I was just advised that I need to come and sign once a week.
• I ended up on the streets again.
• I tried to sleep in the park, but was prevented to do so by the police. Again I was just wondering the streets and slept in different parks on the bench. One day while wondering the streets, I came across two homeless guys; one of them was English and another one was Russian. They offered to let me sleep with them in a warehouse near  Five Ways they had broken into. Most of the people sleeping at that place suffered from alcohol and drugs dependency and I was really scared. Believe me, streets can be very dangerous. I have been offered drugs many times which I refused. Refusing drugs could be also a very dangerous thing to do in that environment. However, despite his alcohol dependency and aggressive behavior the Russian guy was very strong and somehow very protective of me. We were living there for about a four months, but the Council eventually found out and kicked us out of the warehouse. I started sleeping rough in various parks again, often abused late at night by drunk people leaving clubs, pubs and other places. I would sometimes even be abused by other homeless people.
• It crossed my mind that an officer from the Immigration Service when I was signing on and complaining about my problem suggested that the Red Cross could help me. When I eventually approached the Red Cross they provided me with food vouchers for four weeks, but were unable to help me with the accommodation. However Guy from the Red Cross understood my problem and arranged for me to meet Jeremy from Restore. Jeremy advised me about Fireside where I could wash my clothes and get some food parcels. He has also promised that he would try to help with the accommodation, initially for two weeks. After a while Jeremy arranged for me to stay in St Catherine’s Church for two weeks. I was very worried what would happen after two weeks. After two weeks Restore arranged for me to stay for another couple of weeks in a house with one of their befrienders. After those two weeks I slept rough for some time, but I was told that they would make application to the Hope Housing project and that the  accommodation might be available soon. One day Shari from Restore advised me that Hope Housing would be able to help me with accommodation, provided that I take steps that would take me out of destitution. I found people from ASIRT also very helpful, they applied on my behalf for help from a destitution fund, gave me a food parcel and took me to the Hope Housing accommodation.
• Restore has helped me to find a new solicitor who went through my case once again and submitted a fresh application for asylum providing new evidence. I am hoping that this time my asylum application will be successful and that I will get support in the meantime.