My name is Nejim Alamin ...

I was an electrician in Sudan before I had to flee to seek asylum in the UK. I would have been killed if I had stayed so I had no choice. When I arrived in the UK I was sent to Portsmouth and stayed in accommodation for asylum seekers until I was given leave to remain. I was given one week to find somewhere so I stayed with people I knew until a hostel place came up. I stayed in the Portsmouth hostel for about a year and it was a very difficult time. There were about 100 residents and most of them were young and used to “party” all the time. I am older and wanted a quieter life but I also needed to be near other Sudanese people. Someone suggested Cardiff, so I took the train here and when I arrived just asked someone to tell me where I might find a hostel.

Fortunately for me someone at the station directed me to the YMCA. I had to go on the waiting list so I had to stay in Portsmouth until there was a vacancy but I was eventually given a room in March 2005. The YMCA has been fantastic. They have sensible rules here and expect people to keep to them. This makes it feel like a safe place to be as I hadn’t felt that safe in the other hostel. I found Wales so friendly too and it is good living in a country that also has its own language. I was given a support worker straight away who helped me sort everything out. I had had problems in Portsmouth that I needed special help with and that was done first.

The support worker then showed me how to go about applying for my own place. In the meantime we worked together to try to get my two daughters to join me from Sudan. Knowing I would need to work, I took all the help the YMCA could give me with training and education too. I practiced my cooking and computer skills so that I would feel more confident. I did Level 2 in English with Learn Direct, and then attended the Gate course and Tenant Participation course as well as joining in other informal learning sessions at their drop-in. I now have my own place and my children (18 and 16) are with me. I have completed a Playworkers course, a Community Care course, and a Trustee’s responsibilities course. I have a few courses to do to enable me to work as an electrician here, but my goal is to be an Assistant Classroom teacher. As an ex-resident representative, I am going to be attending a regular Tenant and Resident Involvement Group at the hostel and I will be formally joining the YMCA Management Committee as a member in October this year.

The YMCA is the right place to do it if you want to. It’s not just accommodation – their services help you build your life up again. The staff are qualified to do the work in the best way and I have gone from a negative to a positive place. I am now in a position to put something back.