Global Link are like your tour guide. They will tell you where to go, what to do….The Home Office were supportive;  they gave us the house and a small amount to live on. But you also need someone to support you, to take your hand, step by step, to show you, to guide you and this is what really matters, I think. So at least there is an organisation who you could trust, who don’t take advantage of you just offer free services and free advice to people who are really suffering, and who are really looking for help.  So I think it was really very important, and a relief for us. At least someone is there for us.

All the events Global Link  planned helped me, and kept me busy. It makes you so happy, you know. I was part of it, my kids were part of it, we were really engaged, so happy, because it was really so interesting…. We did the [outdoor] Trails. The first one was, I think, the teddy bears, ‘Save the love’, and the second one was the chicks, so it was really nice….. We were so excited, because as I told you, we didn’t have any friends here.  So when we’ve got something to do, something that pushes us to get out of the house, it makes us very happy.  So for the three days we were doing everything, going again and again.

It gave us a reason to leave the house. Otherwise I wouldn’t leave the house; I would be staying in bed.  The kids would just be on the phone, not doing anything.  But when there’s an activity we ALL join together as a family. 

I need to do something, to get out, to try to engage.  We have to go out, to open our brains, to brainstorm new ideas, new things. It was really nice to socialise with other people.

Getting wifi was a great help with most of our problems… without wifi our life is gone.  Sometimes they have this online stuff we need to do, so without the wifi we would have been lost by now, 100%. With the laptop we were given, my son is doing all his homework on it.  I’m also actually doing things on it, whenever we have meetings or Zooms.  It was really, really perfect, because without Global Link we wouldn’t have done it.  At least the kids can do the minimum things a kid should do.

I came to Global Link with my husband.  My husband is going for all the classes here. I don’t want to sit at home and not do anything, because I am usually a social, busy person.   I enrolled on to classes on Tuesdays, Wednesday, Thursdays, Fridays. Now I am busy the whole week.  It was really good help and support. I spoke to someone at Global Link who set up an appointment and we came and we discussed, and it was really great.  Right there and then she finished everything, and a few days later I received calls and I started.

Now it feels much better because we have overcome so many difficulties.  At the beginning we were on shaky ground, but with Global Link’s help, we gradually found out about things. Even the kids sometimes go by themselves to town if they want to buy something which also makes me happy as they are starting to feel they belong now.

We went to Claver Hill Community Farm a few times. It was so interesting and I was super happy to meet and socialise with people. I even started volunteering. I told them my husband and I would be preparing meals.

Everything helped me.  I think it is like a circle. It is all connected. You just need to connect the dots and once all the dots are connected you will feel better.

At the beginning our house was broken into twice.  When that happened I called Global Link because I didn’t know who else to call, and they were the first people that came to my mind. They were so helpful and sympathetic. They sent us some money to have a camera installed outside.  It was really a huge support, because before that incident we started had started to feel a little bit at home. Then we started feeling, no, maybe this is not the place for us, because we were shocked. It was the first time we had come across something like that and after that we wanted to change town.  I was not feeling safe to go to the toilet at night; it was really horrible. But after we installed the camera, it gave us our confidence back.

…..the people who come here, or to any other country as an immigrant or an asylum seeker, whatever their background or problem, they have to add to society, they have to add to the country with their expertise, their experience, their knowledge, their everything, and not be a burden on the place. We don’t want to live on charity. We don’t want people to support us with money, that’s against our concept, against our beliefs. We want to live, we want to earn.  I want to be an added advantage to the place, so people can say, ‘They’ve made a difference; they were valuable to us.’  Even my husband, who is suffering from so many health conditions, has applied for a work permit. He wants to give back too.

Organisations like Global Link are really valuable, of great benefit, because without them you can’t carry on.