Bushra* was referred to the Gateway Pregnancy Outreach Workers Service when her life started unravelling and she didn’t know where to turn. In just a few months she had gone from being a college student, supported by friends and family, to being homeless with two mouths to feed and very little support.
Here, her Pregnancy Outreach Worker (POW) Jahanara tells us Bushra’s story, and we’ve also included some quotes from Bushra herself, because she logged her thoughts on our Impact Assessment App after every appointment.
“I am helping Bushra to build a new life without her family”
Case Study by Jahanara Begum, Pregnancy Outreach Worker.
Bushra had been referred to POWS because of social isolation and short term mental health issues.
Bushra and her baby
When I first contacted her, she said she didn’t want me to meet her at home. So I first met Bushra at her GP surgery, where she was attending an antenatal class. She was stressed and tearful, and told me the story of her pregnancy.
Soon after arriving in the UK with a student visa, Bushra had met a man at a bus stop. They got chatting and, thinking that he came across as a very Islamic, “good” man, she gave him her number. Over the next few weeks they spoke on the phone and met once, at McDonalds. He told her he would like to marry her; that he had spoken to his family and they had agreed.
One evening he phoned and asked Bushra to go out and meet him in his car, which she did. It was only the third time they’d met, but he took her to a hotel, telling her it wouldn’t matter if they took their relationship further because they were going to get married.
Bushra believed him.
When Bushra found out she was pregnant, she phoned her boyfriend but he told her he wasn’t interested. Soon after that he changed his number and disappeared. She had never known his address, so she wasn’t able to find him.
Trapped
At our first meeting Bushra told me she just didn’t know what to do. She said her family would not accept her now that she was pregnant, and so it was impossible for her to go back to Pakistan. She told me her extended family are so strict that she was afraid for her life, and that of her unborn baby, if she was to return.
She was living with a family friend but she couldn’t stay there for much longer because, once her friend found out she was pregnant, she would probably tell her family. This was why she’d arranged to meet me at the doctors.
Bushra said her student visa would soon expire, which would make her an illegal immigrant, but she felt trapped. She couldn’t go back to Pakistan and had no money or recourse to public funds in the UK.
I am very stressed all the time but now that you’re going to support me, maybe things will get better. You have given me encouragement to think positive about my life.
The first thing we needed to do was to find out what support, if any, Bushra was entitled to. We went to a legal advice centre but they said she was not entitled to any legal aid, so I referred her to Asirt (Asylum Support and Immigration Resource Team) and the British Red Cross.
We went to British Red Cross together and they were very helpful. They made an appointment for Bushra at the Home Office and gave her food vouchers, and travel expenses to attend the appointment. They could only support her until her asylum application had been completed, because their funding is very limited, but advised that she should get support from NASS (National Asylum Support Service).
My family has found out I’m pregnant and they are sending me threatening email. My sister said I will not get away with getting pregnant.
By now, Bushra had moved in with another friend – although this friend had made it clear it was a temporary arrangement. Bushra attended the Home Office in Croydon and made an asylum application; however they did not apply for support for emergency accommodation or financial support because her friend had said she was willing to let her stay for another two weeks.
You have offered to get baby items from the Gateway baby bank, and a food bag. Although my friend provides me with food, I feel like a burden on her. I hate having to always ask her for money but I have no choice.
I contacted the migration helpline and got Bushra to speak to them via an interpreter and do an application over the phone for accommodation. I also gave her food, baby items, toiletries and a moses basket from Gateway’s baby bank.
Lonely
Bushra wasn’t happy staying at her friend’s property, and her friend made it very clear she wanted her to move out as soon as possible, but Bushra needed somewhere to stay while her application was processed. I spoke to the friend and she agreed to let her stay until she had the baby.
As soon as Bushra had the baby her friend asked her to move out. So I phoned the migration helpline again and explained the situation, and Bushra completed another emergency application over the phone. The Refugee Council rehoused her, on the same day, to accommodation where she will live until her application is processed. They are also providing her with some financial support and helping her with her rehousing application.
I do feel lonely here and miss my friend and her son, so please can you visit me regularly. I have lost my family forever but miss my mum so much. It’s been so long that I have not heard her voice. But what can I do, I just have to live with this reality.
I am still supporting Bushra. I occasionally give her food parcels and baby items, and recently I’ve been trying to get her to visit the local Children’s Centre to meet other mums.
I am grateful to you because you’re the one who directed me to the services that helped me, so I am here today because of you.
*not her real name
Gateway Food Bank
We are currently taking donations of tinned goods and baby items for the food and baby bank at Gateway. The bank is increasingly needed by clients of all our services, not just the Pregnancy Outreach Workers Service. You can drop donations off at the Gateway offices, or give us a ring on 0121 456 7820 – if you’re local we can even collect.
You can find out more about donating to Gateway in the blog post called Why we are starting our Christmas collection early this year.
Thank you.
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