It is time for another monthly update. This one is still focused on our campaign to keep our neighbours in Brighton.
Brighton Says Yes
We currently have one family of three, one family of two, two young sisters, and ten single women still in the hotel. We have found housing solutions for three women, but two of those are a little precarious. Keeping these women in the town they call home is a very achievable target.
What is needed is:
- More money, especially more regular income
- Offers of spare rooms, ideally for three months or more
- Offers of emergency accommodation in case people are evicted suddenly
- Affordable rental accommodation
- Help with publicity
- Help spreading the word
If you can help with any of the above, please do get in touch.
We also need to keep pressurising the council. The leader of the council, Bella Sankey, assures people in private that they support the campaign and want the Home Office to open more accommodation in Brighton. No doubt they are liaising with their counterparts. We need them to be public about it. If the council want this city to be a city of sanctuary, then they need to publicly and vocally call on the city to come together to keep our neighbours in Brighton and to welcome forced migrants.
A few of you very kindly pointed out that the link I sent was not in a very helpful format, so I am trying again. Sorry. (Speaking of things that I missed out of the last newsletter, I wanted to link to the brilliant SEAS art project. I couldn’t find it quickly. Do check it out.)
The Campaign So Far
The response has been extraordinary. By my count we have had more than 40 new signups just through gocardless, our direct debit provider. To put that into perspective, we receive 174 donations a month through gocardless. The vast majority of you very sensibly donate by standing order.
We have even been offered a three-bedroom flat to rent. It would cost about £2100 a month to take it on. Even if the new signups continue at this rate, we are not going to be able to find that sort of regular income in the timeframe that we have. We were quietly gifted £10,000 by anonymous donors. It must be possible to raise a further £10,000 from the rest of the community. There is a fundraiser:
https://chuffed.org/project/brighton-says-yes
If your friends cannot commit every month, perhaps they can contribute to that.
Quiz
We also have an event coming up on 19 November. It is a pub quiz at the Robin Hood Pub on Norfolk Place. It is a lovely community pub. It’s a great quiz. You can win prizes and raise money for us. The quiz starts at 19:30. Entry is £5. You will not regret it.
A Resident Speaks
One of the key things about this campaign is that it is being led by the residents. One of those campaigners wanted to say thisat our public meeting. She was late and missed her chance…
Why Brighton Is My Home — My Story
To everyone here today thank you for listening to me.
I stand before you as someone who has travelled far, and waited long, and hoped deeply. And today I ask one thing: please let me stay in Brighton.
I did not just pick a town. I chose the place where I began to feel human again. Where I stopped just surviving and started truly living.
Since I came here, I have built things that matter. I have found my feet. I have found my people. And I have done it all right here, in Brighton.
I joined Breadwinner Young Leaders — and there I learned I have a voice. That I can lead. That my ideas count.
I became part of Hummingbird and there I found warmth, safety, and people who see me, not just my situation.
I walk with Global Social Club and there I made friends from all over the world. I laugh, I share, I belong. I am not alone anymore.
I even went on a trip to Jamie’s Farm and for the first time in so long, I breathed fresh air, felt peace, and saw that life can be gentle and good again.
These are not just names on a list. These are my people. These are the places that held me when things were hard. This is where I have made real friends friends who know me, who care about me, who I do not want to leave behind.
People ask: Why can’t you go somewhere else?
I answer: Everything I have built is here.
If you move me away you take me away from every single one of these groups. You take me away from the friends who became my family. You take me away from the leaders who believe in me. You take me away from the community that has wrapped its arms around me.
I am an asylum seeker yes. But I am also a student. A friend. A volunteer. A leader in the making. I am contributing. I am showing up. I am trying my very best to be a good part of this city.
Why should I be punished for doing well? Why should I lose everything I have worked so hard to build?
Brighton is not just a location to me now. It is where I have found my confidence. Where I have found my purpose. Where I have found home.
I do not want to start all over again somewhere new trying to find new groups, trying to make new friends, trying to feel safe all over again. I have already done the hard part. I have already found my place.
So I ask you today please, let me stay. Let me keep growing. Let me keep leading. Let me keep being part of Breadwinner, Hummingbird, Global Social Club. Let me keep visiting places like Jamie’s Farm. Let me keep walking the streets that feel like mine.
I am not asking for the world. I am asking to keep the world I have already found right here, in Brighton.
Thank you for listening.
