Migration

“Migrant” is a warm word for some and a cold one for others. A banker who moves here for work is a migrant. So is someone who fled war, violence, or persecution, forced to leave everything behind. We roll out the welcome mat for one, and a screening system for the other.

The friends we walk with are on the harder side of that line. While they wait years for their case to be heard, the law won’t let them work, or even volunteer. Young people ready for university get stuck, because the funding to get them there isn’t there. Most people never realise these neighbours are here legally, waiting inside the government’s screening system for an answer with no date on it. This voice is about seeing them as people, not a headline or a case number, so the city gets a little kinder, and a little safer.