Mr A, a refugee from Afghanistan: It's really not just the tabloids. That's the point. There really isn't much positive about us in the so-called mainstream press either. And this makes refugees and those seeking asylum think: "OK - we'll give up. We can't change people's minds."
We have from our refugee community some very successful people. But there is no story about them. But if someone has done good things, that should be mentioned as well. If someone has done something wrong - OK, they need to report that. But how will they report it. So you will read in a paper - "Arab rapist" - why not "Ahmed" or "Steve rapist" - why "Arab"?
But I'll give you a positive example of what can be done. I was living in Newcastle. Close by there is a little town called Sunderland, a nice place, but the problem is that they have more extreme views about refugees and asylum-seekers than you find in most other places. They don't like them. And there aren't many refugees there at all. The Home Office sent a few asylum seekers up there and police had to move them after a few days. In 2003, an Iranian asylum seeker was stabbed to death.
At first it was very difficult - there is a kind of conspiracy of negativity. I assumed that people knew all about us and just didn't want us around, period. But then I began to realise that there was something missing - a knowledge gap that was causing the problem. Then others began to think about what they could do to change these local people's views. A local Sunderland newspaper asked some of the refugees in the area to do some school visits. There were four of us who had a job in hospitals, and a refugee journalist. We went into the school hall and introduced ourselves. One or two classes came into the hall and we were sitting there, said a few words, and then they went and another class came in, and on we went. When we asked, do you know why we refugees or asylum seekers are here in this country? - nobody knew anything about it.
When I went to that school and spoke to those school students, it became clear that even their parents knew nothing about refugees and asylum seekers and who they are. The only stories they were getting were negative ones from the newspapers. So refugees living there got constant trouble from those teenagers. They thought - here are these people coming and bringing disease and taking our jobs and that's the only reason why they are here. When we explained the situation in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq or somewhere else - about the wars and how these armies tortured people - they got upset and started showing their sympathy for us immediately.
We talked about ourselves, the country we came from and why we had fled from there and come here to seek safety. They invited me to another session in Sunderland once I had moved down to London, and I went up there and found that the children had raised some money for people coming from a particular African country - I can't remember which. But it was quite a lot of money! They were so keen to help us.
I was really glad of the opportunity, and it inspired me to spend time and do whatever I can to give people a better idea about who we are and why. If I can see results like this - well I want to do more! When everything is negative you don't have any choice - you just have to lie very low and that's it.
The negative information is published drip drip everyday. But at the moment, nothing positive is there to counter it, and this disempowers us. We can't do anything about it. You can't read about positive role models that show you what can be done. If I don't see anyone else working as a doctor - I think - oh well, there's no chance that I can work again in my profession. I just give up. But if I visit a hospital and see a hundred refugee doctors working there - well then - that helps energise us refugees to participate more in the community, and that helps the local people.
