I am writing this with so much gratitude to JCWI. How JCWI helped me by giving a place at their internship programme is the core of this piece. From 2010 to 2018 I lived my life in darkness as an asylum seeker. I am a survivor from an ethnic minority background in Sri Lanka. I came to the UK as a 17-year-old, knowing no one and unable to speak a word of English. I was put up in a cold garage before being forced into homelessness.
I survived through these episodes with help from food banks, friends and asylum seeker support networks. I was given poor advice regarding legal representation and ended up being neglected by various private solicitors. The Home Office did not recognise me as a refugee, and I was detained in 2014 and 2015. Since then, I have turned my pain and suffering into passion and motivation to step up to study law and work for the betterment of other asylum seekers suffering like I have.  
I knew that to fight the system, I needed to understand it. In 2017, I was succ…