By Heather McComb & April Curtin
08 Sep 2014
Jalene* is a young migrant from Ethiopia who, when offered a visitor visa to the UK, jumped at the chance to gain a good education in a Western country that would welcome her with open arms.
Or so she thought.
Four years on, Jalene has decided to reveal all to MM about her struggles, as she worked to achieve a dream and battle against the ultimate enemy: the British immigration system.
Set with an ambition to better herself and achieve a higher education at Manchester University, it was this aim which proved to be the first of many obstacles that she faced.
“Pursuing education was severely tough, the main reasons being that I have not been allowed to work and I’m not entitled to any state support except for a few months at the initial stage,” she told MM.
“A partial tuition fee waiver scholarship from the University of Manchester and the incredible support by some charity organisations and friends let me survive and finish my study – I graduated a couple of days ago in a master’s degree.”
In spite of her outstanding achievement, Jalene believes other people in her situation are not so lucky.
“My experience shows that such cases [as hers] are extremely rare, principally due to severe challenges and barriers,” she said.
However, Jalene also said that despite the challenges and stress, being in education helped her ‘to keep optimistic and positive’.
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