Update 09.01.2026:

We have now closed this fundraiser with the news that Ngassa Geresse is being granted asylum! Thank you to everyone for your support!

Original post:

Written by Ngassa Geresse with support from ESA.NE:

When I arrived in the UK, I had a government solicitor for my asylum procedure and I was living on the Bibby Stockholm. It is a really bad place for asylum seekers in Portland. The conditions of living there were not good, I have a lot of trauma that I've been facing there because there were 600 people living on the boat. My solicitor didn't respond to my messages about my asylum case and now I have been rejected from my asylum claim.

I have made an appeal to the government and I have tried to find a solicitor in the North East but they are all at full capacity and there is no legal support for me.

Now I need to raise funds for a private solicitor who will take on my case as it has been 7 months since I appealed (it is currently July) and I could be called to court at any moment.

I need to raise £1500 to cover the solicitor fees, transport and other associated costs because there is no solicitor available near me and I have to travel very far.

I am very happy to be with ESA.NE (East and Southeast Asians North East) and the LGBTQIA+ community here in Newcastle upon Tyne. I am very emotional when I speak about this. I am very proud to be who I am and to be accepted for who I am here.

Here there is no more persecution, back home in my country Cameroon I face a lot trauma and persecution.

Please help me to live proudly & free as a gay person in the UK.