Maria's Story
We recently exited a client who had been supported by Snowdrop for six years. Here is her 'tribute to Snowdrop' in her own words:
"To the remarkable team at Snowdrop, words fall short in expressing the profound gratitude I carry in my heart for the unwavering support you provided throughout my life journey.
Snowdrop has been more than just an organisation; it has been a lifeline and a steadfast source of encouragement amidst uncertainty and struggle. From our first interaction, I felt enveloped by your kindness and genuine desire to understand my unique circumstances.
Your holistic approach—recognising my immediate needs, personal growth, and future dreams—has empowered me to confront obstacles with newfound strength and confidence. The personalised guidance and thoughtfully designed programs have illuminated my path. Moreover, the nurturing community you've fostered has been essential to my growth.
Whether I needed help navigating a challenging life transition, developing essential skills for employment, or simply a compassionate listener to share my thoughts with, you were always there. You created a safe space for me to be myself, explore possibilities, and believe in my worth, even during my darkest moments.
I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities you provided to learn, connect with others facing similar challenges, and give back meaningfully to the community. You taught me invaluable lessons of resilience, self-worth, and the joy of helping others.
Now, as I stand on the brink of a brighter future, I extend my heartfelt thanks to every member of Snowdrop. Your unwavering dedication to empowering individuals like me is truly inspiring. Your impact resonates far beyond the present—you are a beacon of hope in my life, and I am eternally grateful to have had you by my side on this journey."
Rena's Story
We recently had the privilege of exiting one of our long-term clients who no longer needs casework support from us.
Rena is a survivor of modern slavery and exploitation. We met Rena shortly after her support under the NRM (National Referral Mechanism) had abruptly ended. Rena and her young son were isolated and Rena was living in chronic pain.
Rena waited an arduous five years to claim asylum in the UK. After the intense trauma of her past, waiting for this decision was agonising. We supported her emotionally with trauma counselling, as well as helping her access crisis support when she was at her lowest and felt suicidal.
One of the most transformational moments was when Rena was provided a carer after a social care assessment. Having a carer has really changed Rena’s life, as she was struggling to manage basic tasks. We worked hard to ensure the carer was a good fit for her and her son’s life. Rena also received specialist parenting support which has helped, as she has often felt isolated as a single mum. Rena has also found community through Snowdrop’s weekly toddler group and other activities. Rena says, "[The activities] really take our mind somewhere different where we can be happy, and when we go to activities our mind stays there".
Rena’s circumstances are more stable now. She has a permanent home which suits her mobility needs, and we were able to decorate and furnish it as part of our house renovation programme. Rena has started college, and she hopes that in the future she can continue to improve her English. She would like to use her love of creative writing to write poetry, and maybe a novel about her life.
Rena said, "if Snowdrop didn’t support, I don’t think I can come this far". Whilst there are still struggles, Rena says “what I have learnt is don't give up - try, try, try and try again".
We wish you all the best Rena as you move forward, and we are so proud of how far you have come.
Christine’s Story
When Christine arrived in the UK, she had been separated from her husband and children. Christine waited several agonising years in limbo, until she was finally granted refugee status. After hearing this news, one of the first things she wanted to do was to apply for family reunion visas, so that she could be with her family again. She had been separated from them for five years. However, a year after receiving refugee status, she still hadn't heard whether the visas had been accepted. Christine said this felt worse than the wait for her asylum claim.
During the first lockdown, Christine heard news of close relatives who had died back home, and this grief was even more difficult to process during a time when there was little she could do to distract herself, and when she felt alone.
Christine’s caseworker at Snowdrop contacted her regularly on the phone. They also went for walks and explored parks in her local area that she had not been to before. She was able to have counselling with Snowdrop to process some of these emotions. We also provided her with some activities she could do at home, such as a cross stitch kit, and lent her a Wi-Fi device so that she could continue with her college course online. Throughout this frustrating period, we helped her contact her MP about the visas, and her MP was able to advocate for her.
Finally, after five years of uncertainty and painful separation, Christine received the wonderful news that the family reunion visas had been granted! Christine was going to be reunited with her husband and children.
We were thrilled at this news. However, there was no government funding for travel assistance to help pay for the cost of flights. The NGOs that usually supported in this area were not accepting referrals due to COVID. We applied for several different grants, and eventually we were successful in getting a grant for the full cost of the flights! Whilst this was fantastic news, the window in which Christine’s family could travel on these visas was closing quickly, and the second lockdown had just been announced, making international travel very uncertain. We needed to book the flights ASAP.
Thankfully, travel was arranged without too much trouble. Christine was reunited with her family in November 2020.
Your generosity enabled us to support Christine and her family financially through our small grants scheme, which also helped pay for things such as travel home from the airport. As Christine is a job seeker on the basic amount of Universal Credit, and was not able to work or save as an asylum seeker, she needed financial assistance in order to be able to meet the needs of her now larger family. Despite the family being eligible for additional benefits, the six week wait for the assessment period made this initial period extremely challenging.
Incredible generosity from Snowdrop's supporters also meant we could source beds and bedding for Christine's family, as well as clothing and activities to keep them occupied during their two weeks of quarantine.
We are thrilled for Christine, and we will continue to support her as she navigates the emotional complexities of being reunited with her family after so many years apart.
Jasmine’s Story
One of our previous clients, Jasmine, wanted to share her story with you in her own words. Here is her story:
“It’s been a long and difficult journey to where I am today.
My journey to where I am now started in 2014… my asylum claim was rejected, my appeal was rejected and I was put into detention awaiting deportation. While I was in detention, I kept in contact with Snowdrop and they supported me in every way they could. I was in detention for three weeks. When I was released, I put in a new asylum appeal.
One month later, I was taken into detention again and I was there for 11 days before I was released.
After I was out of there, I struggled with food because my allowance was not in place yet. Snowdrop provided me with money every week to do food shopping until I started receiving support. I was struggling with my mental health and Snowdrop offered me counselling sessions. There were lots of activities to do, such as dancing group, sewing and crafts. Although I didn’t attend all the activities, it was great to know that there was something to do if I ever wanted to do anything. I made new friends at Snowdrop. I was alone in this country, and that isolation drove me insane, but having Snowdrop made me feel like I wasn’t alone anymore. I will say I am very lucky to have been supported by them. After four years of trying to claim asylum, I finally got my leave to remain. I was very happy.
I decided to take a Health Science access course in college to get the required certificate to go to university. While I was going to college, I had problems with my benefits for a few months, and I almost dropped out of the course because I couldn’t buy a bus pass or even food to eat. However, Snowdrop started giving me money every week for food, and the college gave me money for a bus pass. Snowdrop assigned me a caseworker and she was very helpful. She supported me emotionally, mentally and physically and also education-wise. She helped me more than I can even explain.
Now, I have started my Nursing course, and I hope to become a Mental Health nurse to support people in need. I chose to study Mental Health Nursing because of the experience that I have had throughout my asylum journey. I suffer from depression and anxiety disorder, and I want to further my knowledge of this to help myself and to help those in a similar situation. Though I am still struggling with my mental health, I am so much better now. All the stress of uncertainty is gone.
I don’t think I would have been where I am today without the Snowdrop Project. I wouldn't have survived this whole journey without them. They are the ones I can call my real family here. Snowdrop was still very small when they took me in, and now they have become a big organisation. They have done so much work and have saved so many lives, including mine.
Snowdrop is a mother to the motherless.
I will forever remain grateful."
Tala’s Story
Tala had been brought to the UK from the Philippines when she was just 19, to work as a house maid. She was told she would be earning enough money to send back to her mother and three younger brothers. But when Tala arrived in the UK, her passport was taken from her, she was made to sleep in a basement, given very little food and made to work for 12-16 hours a day.
Over the six years she was exploited, she was paid only £600 and was forced to work even when she was sick. When Tala was very ill, the family refused to take her to a doctor, saying it was too expensive. But finally, Tala managed to escape with the help of a neighbour who had noticed her.
Tala came to us with a multitude of problems. She had been refused asylum, the government did not believe her story, she had no money and nowhere to turn to. Tala just wanted to be able to move on from her past and start earning enough money to send to her family.
We supported Tala to get her negative decision overturned, find a stable place to live, learn English and get the compensation for false imprisonment that she deserves.
Tala started a paid work experience placement with the Co-op’s Bright Future Programme. She enjoyed working in a team and is now looking forward to the future. When we spoke to Tala about the support the Snowdrop Project has given her, she said, "I can say that they help me a lot. It’s because of them, I have progressed so much in life."
Sophie’s Story
Sophie was sexually exploited for six years from the age of 13. She is a valued volunteer at the Snowdrop Project and is passionate about raising awareness of exploitation. This is her story:
"Through this crime, everything was taken from me - my control, my dignity, my future, my voice. I became hidden. From the years of 2005- 2013, I was a statistic, a number within the figure of "potential victims of trafficking within the UK".
I should never have been exploited for that many years undetected. I was not only a child, but I was a child in school, a child with a GP, a child with foster parents and social workers, all which failed to identify that I was being tricked, controlled, tortured and sold every day.
I spent years accepting that what my life had become couldn’t, and wouldn’t, ever change. It was impossible for me to speak out, and nobody around me took any notice of the signs right in front of them.
However, I was extremely lucky. All it took was one police officer not to dismiss the signs and to look further than what you see on the surface. I then spent the standard 45 days in a safe house. Although I am extremely grateful to have been in a safe house, 45 days isn’t enough time to establish the needs in each individual case, let alone recover from them.
Long-term support is crucial for any survivor's recovery. Without it, you may as well not have been rescued at all. I spent the first two years of my recovery moving to four different places, all which claimed to support survivors. Unfortunately, they did not have the knowledge and training necessary. Those two years were unbearable, and as a result my mental and physical health suffered hugely.
In July 2015, I hit the jackpot! The Snowdrop Project. The first charity to provide adequate long-term support. Having a support worker, counsellor and supportive community has changed my life drastically.
Being a survivor leaves it’s mark mentally and physically. I am still dealing with the effects of this crime, but I have not had to do it alone.
I found trusting anybody a challenge, but Snowdrop never gave up. No matter what I was facing, feeling or doing, they always stuck by my side and helped empower me to make the best decisions for myself. I cannot begin to tell you the impact and difference long-term support has, but I can guarantee that if I hadn’t had Snowdrop, I would not be here today.
Each survivor should be as lucky as me to have long-term support. The obstacles you are faced with should never be tackled alone.
It is also vitally important when working with vulnerable people who have been through such a high level of trauma that you have the right training or knowledge. From my own experiences, I found the places that didn’t have this knowledge were detrimental to my long-term recovery. Because of Snowdrop's knowledge and training, I have been able to grow in independence, confidence and strength, and I now have the ability to make choices for the future I have back.
Although I have been lucky enough to be rescued and to have long-term support, I shouldn’t have had to be rescued, because I shouldn’t have been in modern slavery. I shouldn’t have been forgotten and hidden. I, along with every other woman, man and child who has been in modern slavery, should have been seen and heard.
I consider it an honour to use my experiences and my voice to speak out and help make the necessary changes to survivor care, and to ultimately eradicate modern slavery."
Lydia’s Story
This is Lydia's story:
"Thinking back about five years ago, I could never have imagined that my life would be like it is now. Now I can say that life is a mystery, and if anyone says that they have everything under control, or that they know how tomorrow will be, they shouldn’t be so sure about it. I was sitting at the computer like I am now about six years ago, and I can still remember my desk. The arrangement of my documents, the little flower I used to put in a small vase. I remember feeling so proud, thinking 'I am here because of my hard work, and I deserve to be here'. I would think a million thoughts, but never that my life would change 360 degrees. It’s just when you are too confident about yourself, and you think nothing bad is going to happen - that's when you find yourself in the middle of a crossroads.
I am here now in front of a computer again, but not at my old desk and not in my old office. But for the first time after five years, I am at an office desk. For the people around me this is a normal thing, but for me it is like waking up from a coma and trying to remember who I was, trying to find my way in this situation.
Being an asylum seeker for about four years has put my life on hold. I can’t say I have done nothing, because being a single mother of two boys is the hardest thing ever, but I have missed being me. And only now I am realising how much I liked my job, and how much I liked to keep myself busy and make myself useful.
For the first time after such a long time, I was given the opportunity to make myself useful and that is thanks to the Snowdrop staff. Snowdrop has been a great support for me and my little family, and they can always find a way to make my life easier, because I know I can go and have a coffee and chat, and if I need anything they will make everything possible to help. It feels so good not feeling alone.
At the moment, I am volunteering in a Toddler Group and it's great, everybody loves it. The kids don’t want to go home, and the mums have an opportunity to sit, have a coffee and even play with their kids. My kids love to come, and they enjoy every moment. I love seeing them smiling and playing. The other opportunity which has been given to me is teaching English to the Albanian ladies. I have never been a teacher, but just knowing that I am helping them makes me feel so good. I am enjoying every single class, and when they tell me how they have improved I feel so proud, I feel how I used to feel years ago, I feel I am living, not just surviving.
Sitting here and realising who I used to be and how much I have changed makes me realise how strong I am. Some people have to learn the hard way how strong they can be. In my case, fighting my asylum case for about four years, having my life on hold and being insecure every single day is just so depressing. But when I see my kids and they are healthy and happy, and I see people around me helping me and actually thinking about me, that can change your life and the way you see yourself, it has definitely changed me a lot.
I don’t know what my life will be, and I don’t know what will happen, but I'm sure that around me I have great people - they will help me out. I also have my kids who give me a reason for everything, and I also have myself."