An asylum seeker who came to the UK to "save my life" offers to volunteer every day of the week in his local community. Issa Mahamat, 24, has fled his homeland due to an ongoing conflict in his country which "put his life at threat".
The man, who now lives in Long Eaton, said he "cannot find the words to describe the horrors" he has been through. At least 309 people were killed, 182 injured, and more than 6,500 internally displaced in intercommunal violence in Chad, his homeland, last year, according to the United Nations.
Mr Mahamat found the opportunity to flee from his dangerous homeland in 2018. He arrived in France, where he volunteered for various charities and associations. During the pandemic, he volunteered to make personal protective equipment.
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But his journey as an asylum seeker did not stop there. He arrived in England over the summer in an overly-crowded boat, and came to Long Eaton in August this year.
Compared to Paris, "Long Eaton felt small and boring at first", Mr Mahamat said. "All I always wanted was to integrate, to be part of the community," he added.
He met Julie James, and the volunteers at the Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity. "I said to Julie that I wanted to volunteer every day. Helping people is part of my nature - it is who I am as a person."
Mr Mahamat has a busy schedule litter picking, working at the Long Eaton community garden and volunteering for a number of charities. He said: "Volunteering is a normality for me, as well as helping others when I can."
He was sitting at the Infusion Coffee House and Community Space on Derby Road, in Long Eaton, where he also volunteers one day a week. Mr Mahamat is bilingual, speaking French and Arabic fluently.
"I am also trying to learn English at the moment," he added while articulating sentences in English flawlessly. "I am just very grateful for everything and I feel like I want to give back."
Due to his status of being an asylum seeker, Mr Mahamat cannot get a job. But this does not stop him from being "useful to the local community".
"I want to make friends, I want to meet and speak to people," he added. "I do not want to just stay in the hotel - I want to help my community because this how I have been brought since I was a child."
Julie spoke on behalf of Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity and added: "He is volunteering with Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity, Mind charity shops, Healthwatch, Long Eaton community garden and picking up litter in the local community. He intends to fill every day.
"On behalf of Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity I would like to say that in many ways, Issa is typical of the asylum seekers we meet: they all want to work and be productive members of the community; they want to integrate and often say how welcome they feel in the UK, compared to other countries. In other ways Issa is not typical of asylum seekers or indeed anyone else I've met - he is totally driven to serve and has shown huge courage and initiative in filling his time so quickly and so purposefully."
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