My name is Salim. I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan before my family fled the country in the midst of war, which resulted for me in a lifetime of refugeeness.

As a refugee in Canada, at the age of 23, I applied to York university as a “mature student”, eager and thirsty to understand and make sense of my world. Despite the enormous and multifaceted challenges a refugee faces in a world of covert and overt hierarchies and exclusions, I managed to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in philosophy.

Since 2016, using my experiences, knowledge and skills, I have dedicated seven years to supporting newly arriving refugees in Greece, on the Greek island Lesbos. This support has ranged from voluntary translation/interpretation in legal, medical, and bureaucratic matters to teaching language classes designed particularly for refugees.

In my classes I have also used the opportunity to provide the participants more than just vocabulary and grammar; I have tried to offer them my knowledge of life as a refugee in the West, its opportunities, its challenges, and the patience, dedication and persistence required to overcome the exclusions, which they will face in every step of their life in Europe.

However, contrary the disillusionment one might expect from these refugees, my sharing of skills and life experiences, reinforced with my own story, a story of challenges but also accomplishments, has created a palpable enthusiasm among the refugees, particularly among young people, that is noticeable to everyone insofar as the students come regularly, the classroom is as a rule packed, and the younger students attend multiple classes per day.

I have recently won a full scholarship to complete a PhD, in an incredibly competitive process. The PhD is designed to create a space for refugees to tell their own stories of their own experiences, on their own terms, and in their own words. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, where I can create knowledge that will not only help other refugees to be seen and heard, but also try to create a space of listening for all those who are marginalised and excluded.

However, the UK government’s ‘hostile climate’ migration policies includes an exorbitant “NHS Surcharge” for even PhD students. Having spent the last 7 years volunteering to help refugees in the camp, this is an impossible obstacle for me. This £2300 fee, which must be paid upfront, is the last border separating me from pursuing this upcoming research, a reminder that despite the years that have passed in the West, I am still a person stuck behind borders - to the UK, I am still just a refugee facing exclusion from society through systemic and structural barriers.

This gofundme has been launched in a last, desperate hope to overcome this final hurdle so that I can take up my PhD position, and write my story as not only a refugee, but as a person with dignity, and to try to bring awareness to the plight of so many others like me.