Here is the latest campaign:

Dear Home Secretary

From a group of unaccompanied minors excluded from the amnesty

We are young people who have lost everything that we ever had: our family members, our friends, our houses, our schools, our books and our photos.

We ended up bewildered in this country. We had no English and didn’t have any knowledge about this country and the society here. It has been very hard to overcome all the difficulties alone and become good citizens, but we have strived to do so. Many of us are settled now. We have made friends and we take an active part in the community who are our family now. We study and go to school and college.

Some of our friends came here with their parents. They are so lucky, they have had the family support and warmth that only parents can give to their children. We always missed them and had to live alone envying our friends’ fate.

Though many of us have been living in the UK for 5 years we still don’t have a decision that allows us to stay. We are scared when people knock on the door. We look every day at the post for a brown envelope with a decision in it. Our teachers say that we will be okay and our friends say the same. We’re not so sure. We are scared. We can’t plan our future, and uncertainty follows us all day long.

We wish we had our parents to talk to, to share our feelings, to reassure us. Our friends that have parents have their meals cooked, their clothes get washed and ironed, they have more time to study and if they are in trouble or scared their parents are there for them.

Our friends have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK under the amnesty because they were living with their parents. It is not our fault that our parents couldn’t make it and we don’t understand why the Home Secretary excluded us from the amnesty.

We have already been destroyed by losing our parents. Please don’t punish us one more time. This is our home now. We came here as minors and now many of us are grown up. Give us a chance to contribute, just as you did to all our friends of our age who are living with their parents.

This is our story. Please help us.

To download it please click here. Please sign it and post it to Shpresa Programme. See contacts page for the address.