why brighton is my home

By Grace

To everyone here today thank you for listening to me.
I stand before you as someone who has travelled far, and waited long, and hoped deeply. And today I ask one thing: please let me stay in Brighton.
I did not just pick a town. I chose the place where I began to feel human again. Where I stopped just surviving and started truly living.
Since I came here, I have built things that matter. I have found my feet. I have found my people. And I have done it all right here, in Brighton.
I joined Breadwinner Young Leaders and there I learned I have a voice. That I can lead. That my ideas count.
I became part of Hummingbird and there I found warmth, safety, and people who see me, not just my situation.
I walk with Global Social Club and there I made friends from all over the world. I laugh, I share, I belong. I am not alone any more.
I even went on a trip to Jamie’s Farm and for the first time in so long, I breathed fresh air, felt peace, and saw that life can be gentle and good again.
These are not just names on a list. These are my people. These are the places that held me when things were hard. This is where I have made real friends friends who know me, who care about me, who I do not want to leave behind.
People ask: Why can’t you go somewhere else?
I answer: Everything I have built is here.
If you move me away you take me away from every single one of these groups. You take me away from the friends who became my family. You take me away from the leaders who believe in me. You take me away from the community that has wrapped its arms around me.
I am an asylum seeker yes. But I am also a student. A friend. A volunteer. A leader in the making. I am contributing. I am showing up. I am trying my very best to be a good part of this city.
Why should I be punished for doing well? Why should I lose everything I have worked so hard to build?
Brighton is not just a location to me now. It is where I have found my confidence. Where I have found my purpose. Where I have found home.
I do not want to start all over again somewhere new trying to find new groups, trying to make new friends, trying to feel safe all over again. I have already done the hard part. I have already found my place.
So I ask you today please, let me stay. Let me keep growing. Let me keep leading. Let me keep being part of Breadwinner, Hummingbird, Global Social Club. Let me keep visiting places like Jamie’s Farm. Let me keep walking the streets that feel like mine.
I am not asking for the world. I am asking to keep the world I have already found right here, in Brighton.
Thank you for listening.