2/2: I wanted to show how this virus spreads from society to families and if you can’t protect your family, no one will protect it for you. So as a principle of change, we must all start with changing ourselves and our behaviour, then family, then society. And the big question mark is next to the image of the very first British woman to die from the virus. Her fate, our fate and the fate of the world are bound together”

1/3: Repeated protests have been held at Penally camp in Pembrokeshire since September. Asylum seeker residents compare it to a prison. The former Ministry of Defence camp was repurposed to house up to asylum seekers. One of our researchers who wishes to remain anonymous has visited the camp several times to translate for a resident who is experiencing severe mental health problems.

2/3: He says the men describe the conditions are described as “unbearable” and overcrowding means that social distancing is impossible. Penally has been a magnet for far right mobilisation from across the UK to protest at asylum-seekers living locally. 

3/3: Our researcher says that local people have been more concerned about the protests themselves which required some 70 police officers a day at the peak.

1/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

2/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

3/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

4/4: Swansea Asylum Seekers Support acts as a hub – sharing information, resources, expertise and volunteers.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex, is accused of enabling Greece to illegally push migrants back to Turkey. Frontex appears to be playing a more central role on purportedly upholding the rule of law on Greece’s external borders while also concealing ‘push-backs’. This image shows a log of activity from 26 November 2020 which was circulated on social media among solidarity groups in Greece.

1/3: City of Sanctuary is a national movement committed to building a welcoming culture of hospitality, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and persecution. To celebrate, local artists and asylum-seekers and refugees are co-creating a series of public art works on the theme around welcome, home and safety.

2/3: These serve as a legacy of the anniversary and to show how proud Swansea is to be a City of Sanctuary. Swansea artist, Mary Hayman, as part of her community artwork with Glynn Vivian gallery, is supplying local people with a hexagon of fabric which they decorate at home to celebrate City of Sanctuary. These will be incorporated into a canopy for the gallery garden and possibly also flags or bunting.

Hanan Beko, a local tailor, is working on the cutting, hemming and sewing together. Here are some initial hexagons, we will keep you updated on the progress of the public artwork.

Sara said: “We hoped the cat lent to us by a friend before lockdown might catch the mice. The cat was very cute, but lazy and expensive to keep especially after corona. As a joke I placed a computer mouse on its back and sent my friend a screenshot saying: she finally caught a mouse”

On 15 March we were informed that the schools would close ‘cos of Corona virus. We were shocked. (…) Only children whose parents were in politics, doctors or firefighters, were allowed to go to school. The first day it was fun, but after one week I wanted to go back to school but I wasn’t allowed. I miss school, teachers, friends, a lot. I hope everyone is safe. I hope the corona virus quickly goes away. With love from Atima.”

Translated from Dutch by Helen

1/2: Joy said: “I feel fortunate to play a role in helping my fellow undocumented migrants by distributing food packs from Red Cross and others. The pandemic crisis has terrible impact for undocumented people without work. They end up begging.” 

2/2: Undocumented people can be activists and help others, even during a period as precarious as lockdown.

Victor Flores and his wife, from El Salvador, are in the UK since last year waiting for a Home Office response to their asylum claim. This photo titled “Uncertainty” shows the innocent happiness of their one-year-old son under lockdown, but it expresses the family’s mixed feelings as well

Ruth is a Venezuelan migrant who fled from her country to seek asylum in the UK with her immediate family, leaving many behind. She worked as a teacher for 24 years and applied her creativity in teaching preschool kids. During the pandemic lockdown she started painting again. This work depicts the many feelings she has experienced and what she has been going through.

1/7: Week 10 of lockdown in the Hague: Sara says: “I’m in a constant situation of stress, depression, grief and sadness for most of my life.

2/7:  A life in which I was denied even the most basic rights, labelled as illegal, refugee, stateless… Especially these last couple of years drained me so much, I felt hardly alive anymore.

3/7: That left its mark on my health. I feel that my hair is falling out so much. During lockdown I had too much free time, I was dwelling on very sad memories, and the terrible situation I’m in filled my heart with total sadness… I felt my hair was falling out like the withered leaves of a tree.

4/7: I talked about it with a good friend. She wanted to bring me a hair growth serum, but she was stuck as well. 

5/7: Maybe a serum will help, but as long as the situation remains the same, the state of mind, which harms my health, will stay the same as well…”

6/7: Helen comments: She is texting her friend and shows such kindness, talking of her friend’s hair as like velvet when she herself is afraid of losing her own hair.

7/7 

This image shows a street which is normally very busy, full of traffic, but it is quiet due to the Covid lockdown. The setting sun behind the trees and the church tower in the distance creates a mysterious effect. The contributor said: “When you enter a place of stillness, you awaken the divinity within you”

1/4: Carlos said: “These photos show an asylum seeker family (one parent, 2 children) in metaphors. Discovering daisies on the first springtime walk in the UK. 

2/4: Unity but far distance. Hands united, each with a handful of blackberries: wishing all the family to be reunited. 

3/4: The parent struggles to keep going, separated, isolated, mixed feelings, but still going on together.”

4/4

1/2: The past 6 months have been quite challenging for my kids. Lockdown meant they were unable to go out and socialise – missing out on schools and other social aspects of everyday life. 

2/2: In the midst of all this, we managed to visit our friends and celebrate a birthday of our friend MO. This is the first birthday party that we attended in 2020.

1/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

2/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

3/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

4/4: Lockdown meant I had more time with my little kids. Baking and cake making became our hobby and my kids loved it … Different shapes, colours and tastes.

2/2: “Demand increased and we opened a new branch and recruited new staff. All of us are refugees and migrants. We worked so hard during this period and our hard work paid off.”

1/2: Mr Rashid says: “Lockdown has hit many businesses hard in Germany. But it has been quite positive for me and my new food business. We have adapted very quickly to this new reality.”

Ahmad said: “School asked if my daughter would be happy to take part in a Covid testing trial. We accepted and she has been very brave. She took part in the experiment and was awarded a Covid Warrior certificate for her role in fighting corona virus.

Powerful graffiti art by Josh Billingham (aka Gent48) in Birmingham, photographed by Ahmad. The work celebrates key workers including members of Birmingham’s Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities who have been fighting the terrifying monster, COVID-19. More information here.

Jack said: “For a Filipino domestic worker like me, the key is a symbol of trust that binds us with our employer. We always keep them safe. This week, I took out the keys for my employers’ houses. I haven’t used some of them since the lockdown. Now I will start using them again. My employers texted me to come to work

 “It’s a Nightmare and I’m alive

It’s dark and frightful

I can hear the ambulances

People running everywhere in all directions

My heart races fast

I turn around and still

It’s dark, frightful and lonely

Can anyone hear me? I screamed…”

Vicky’s Poem 25.06.2020

1/2: Sara’s words: “I love painting but never had the time for it. These paintings I made during corona. One is a semi self-portrait: feeling cut off from life, symbolized by the tree, also hiding behind the tree for safety.”

Sara’s words: “During corona I didn’t have much materials. I picked the bear because of the details. The more details, the more realistic it will look”

1/3: Ann Griffiths, volunteer at HOP Food Bank, told Marie: “I was dismayed by some of the stories I read on this website. These are important stories to tell.”

2/3: “These are important stories to tell. We too are doing what we can to raise awareness of the asylum seekers’ and refugees’ plight. I have found that not many people are really aware of their needs which is why I wanted to offer pictures of our work during the Covid crisis.”

3/3: “So many people have had to resort to Food Banks to feed their families”

1/4: Nearly 13,000 refugees became homeless after fires destroyed the overcrowded Moria camp on Lesvos, Greece on 9 September 2020. 

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2/4: Slowly, families living on the streets without food or sanitary conditions are being registered and moved to what is now called Moria 2, an expanded Kara Tepe camp. 

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3/4: These shocking images are by Refocus Media Labs:

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4/4:

A colourful house in South Wales supporting the NHS and care workers.

Racist attacks are on the rise across Europe. Doorways of refugee support workers in Greece daubed with red paint. Reminiscent of times of plague when it was common to mark the doors of victims of the disease with in red paint. Please see our blog “Spiral of Hate: Lockdown on Lesvos” by Lena Altinglou.

3/3: We got the idea to make a home-made mosque from our friends. They shared their plans and photos with us on WhatsApp. We didn’t have a lot of space in our living room or a lot of cardboard but we had paints and coloured paper to make a mini mosque. We all shared photos of our home-made mosques and  had a Zoom Party with friends. It wasn’t as good as seeing them but it was better than nothing.

Usually I’m desperate to go out, I can jump over this fence, or break the panels, to escape, but today I want to stay in way behind the fence, to avoid people pass by, I may need to have a thicker net, the world has become stand still, the grass is definitely greener this side!
(An asylum seeker in Swansea)

This Kyrgyz asylum seeking family are shielding under lockdown. The mother has made her 5 year old daughter a rainbow Cindy dress to support the NHS.

“One thing that I still can’t understand is why one of the very first items that disappeared from the shelves was toilet paper. Since mid March I have seen many many people buying large quantities of toilet paper. This week I was going for grocery shopping and I realised that all the toilet paper disappeared from the shelves. The only toilet paper I saw was of a graffiti that recently appeared in one of my local streets’’.

Armando took a shot of himself taking a “deep breath of freedom”. Armando and his family are asylum seekers looking for protection after fleeing from gangs in El Salvador.