British Red Cross

In 2020, Abier fled to the UK from Sudan to seek safety and asylum. She had faced political persecution in her home country. Abier was unable to bring her four children with her and so had to make the difficult decision to leave them in the care of their grandmother. Abier was devestated to be separated from her children. With very little money and a huge language barrier, she stood little chance of making a legal case for being reunited with her children. However, once she had been granted refugee status, the British Red Cross was able to help her apply for her youngest two children (aged 11 and 15) to join her. She hadn’t seen them for 2 years when they finally came to the UK. She was then able to apply on exceptional grounds to be reunited with her two older children, which was more complicated because they were over the age of 18. The five of them now live together in Bristol, where they are rebuilding their lives together. It was a real privilege to be invited into Abier’s family home to document her family life for a commission by the British Red Cross.