G4S Villa, Leeds, 2015
One bright February morning Violet Dickenson and I visit Mary, a young refugee mother. Mary lives in a Victorian villa on a leafy street in Leeds. From the outside it looks impressive, a grand three-storey mansion, with stained glass. Inside there are sweeping balustrades and staircases and once grand carpets, but throughout the smell of dust, dirt and neglect.
It was Violet, working with refugee women in South Yorkshire, who alerted me to conditions at the house. We are volunteer activists with SYMAAG (South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group).
