Our blog this month comes from Zizi, introducing us to our recently launched booklet 'Stories of Hope - Finding Asylum'.
My name
is Ezinna Orji, Zizi as am fondly called. I actually inspired this Stories of Hope
booklet with other ladies. I was an asylum seeker and passed through the
process though with challenges but now am a community practitioner
that empowers others that are in the process .
It all started from the
accent as everything was wee in Glasgow, then to
communicating, housing, access to health care, basic amenities -
and where to access these
information to get us settled.
It was
a bit of struggle because the asylum stigma was there. But with time I
realised that there was great assistance only if we got through to
the right channel.
The thought of telling our stories in a
comic way brought about the creation of this book so as to enable
both people that can and can’t read to see that there is hope.
When things happen in your life, you have three
choices. You can either let it define you, let it
destroy you or you can let it strengthen you. And I choose strength.
This booklet is just to let those in
the process know that there is a lot to access and help while
in the asylum process like education, getting to know your
community, making friends, bonding and bridging gaps, sharing your stories to
empower others and also volunteering to give you added advantage to
becoming self-confident.
For me I have always been hopeful. Our eyes
are in front because it is more important to look ahead than to look
backwards.
Past is a waste-paper, present is a newspaper, and
the future is a question paper. Come out of your past, control
the present, and secure the future.
This is not just a story of hope but reality to being happy.
You can read the beautiful booklet of welcome we created here:
https://issuu.com/magictorchcomics/docs/stories_of_hope_digital_
