Aya’s Story
December 18, 2023
Aya, a woman from the Ivory Coast, was referred to the Housing Justice Hosting Project in 2019. She’s an asylum seeker and survivor of modern-day slavery.
Aya’s first hosting placement was in South London with three other women and two nuns. When that house closed in October 2022, we were able to match Aya with a new clergy host household who were delighted to offer Aya a placement.
Despite the language and culture differences between Aya and her hosts, Aya immediately settled in well to this placement. Aya is a polite and considerate guest, always keen to share stories about her culture and spend time with her hosts. Aya regularly attends weekly ESOL classes, is a passionate crochet-er, and completed a bread making course in Brighton, something she describes as being “incredible and life-changing, learning skills that will help me for the rest of my life”. Most recently, she has become a volunteer with a refugee charity, offering help to those who have helped her find stability in the past couple of years.
The hosts and Aya have bonded over informal English lessons, watching films together, enjoying cinema trips and have started to play music together. Aya was welcomed into the hosts’ Church band playing the Bongo drum and they regularly perform together. Aya has also bonded with the household cats who have become very fond of having her around.
The kindness and generosity of her hosts has given Aya hope and support to live a positive life during a period of turbulence and uncertainty. The hosts have benefited by having their eyes opened to issues they were unfamiliar with and it has been an extraordinary learning experience.