Lottie Davies

Sheka, Asylum Seeker, Manchester

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During 2005 and 2006, I have interviewed and photographed asylum seekers and refugees living the UK, with the help of the Refugee Council. Each person has their own story. Sheka is 32. He has been refused asylum, and while making his final appeal, is entitled to 'Section Four' support, which provides basic housing and food vouchers. Sheka is from Sierra Leone, and has been a journalist since the mid-1990s. He clashed with the authorities in Freetown over some of his published articles, and was imprisoned in solitary confinement until international pressure secured his release. He then spent a year hiding in the bush, until UN peacekeepers arrived in the capital. While attending an international conference in London, he was warned by family members that his life would be in danger if he were to return to Sierra Leone, following work he published on the internet.

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