Thread by @EverydaySexism

My name is Mariam and I am seeking safety in the UK. Please share my story using #SetHerFree

I had to flee from Somalia because I belonged to a minority tribe that was suffering war and rape. We fled to Kenya, but it was not safe for us there either and I ended up being taken to the UK.

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I had never left my home country before. Coming to the UK was a whole new world for me. I thought I would be safe because the travel took a long time so I knew I was going far away from the problems and I would now be far away from my perpetrators.

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I did not have a choice where to go, I didn’t know I would come here. I just wanted to be safe. When I arrived I just knew I was in a foreign land, but I did not even know which one it was.

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When I arrived I was taken to Liverpool, to the Home Office there. I was told to seek asylum. But I didn’t know what that meant. They put me through some interviews. But then, after 4 days, I was taken to detention.

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On the day I was taken to Yarl’s Wood, I thought it was routine, just what they did to people who were looking for protection.

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Even when I got to Yarl’s Wood, I thought that maybe it was a hostel for women. I was taken there in the night, and in the morning I was feeling quite disorientated so I didn’t try to go out. I realised after four days that I couldn’t leave the building.

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I asked one woman if I could go to the shops and she told me, “This is detention, we are not allowed to leave.” That’s when I found out that I was locked in. I couldn’t understand.

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I thought, “For what reason am I being locked up?” And no one could give me the answers, because even the women who were explaining to me that it was a detention centre did not know why they were there.

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To begin with I was happy that I was away from the trouble in Africa. But on the other hand, because I could not leave #YarlsWood to go out, I was still very confused and afraid.

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Not knowing how long I would be in there for was the hardest thing. I was just living in hope that something would happen but I was going through so much confusion in my mind.

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I was there for 2 weeks. Then a legal aid solicitor took on my case & after that I was released. I was only there for a comparatively short time, but when I realised that I was locked up, I started talking to the other women there. Some of them had been there >1 year
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When I left Yarl’s Wood, it kept running in my mind, how are those women surviving in there for over one year? What is the impact on them?

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So over the years I have been campaigning with @wastcampaigning against locking women up in detention because I know what it feels like and I have heard so many stories of women who have been in there.

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We have been campaigning, organising demonstrations and protests, and we have gone to Yarl’s Wood in Bedford to show solidarity and support to women locked up there. This gives them hope, strength and determination not to give up.

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Most women come out of detention with mental health problems and lost self-confidence, but they get help from organisations that support refugee and asylum-seeking women to put their lives back together, and also from other women who have this experience. #SetHerFree

Speaking out can motivate women and help them to regain hope. #SetHerFree

We are human beings, we should be allowed to work and contribute to the community and rebuild our lives.

Locking someone up does not help at all.

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I remember when Diane Abbott went to #YarlsWood and she saw it for herself and I think it made her realise that detention is not fit for human beings. @sajidjavid should make a visit to listen to the women who are locked up in Yarl’s Wood.

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We need to end detention. Everyone can do something to support women’s own campaigns.

Join our #SetHerFree campaign!