Tesfay Sebhat was born in 1955 in Eritrea and came to London in 1980. He lost his sight while fighting in the war for Eritrean independence. In London he learnt Braille and spent several months at a rehabilitation centre in Devon, learning how to manage his disability. He is now the North Area Youth and Play Town Centre Team Leader for the London borough of Lambeth, and lives in Streatham Vale with his wife and two children.
It was the day I arrived, a lot of fireworks. For me I thought it was about bombs, fire you know I said coming away from bombs and arriving here it was a scary day.
I asked what is the-- you know who is fighting? Is it the Irish Republican Army fighting against the Government? Then the question I asked-- the person who waited for me from the British Refugee Aid in the airport and she said 'no this is Guy Fawkes day' she explained but it didn't make sense to me at that time. But it was scary all the way, all night, bombs, fireworks.
And I went.-- it was very cold the temperature of about six degrees, there was nobody to talk, there was no-one. I went to a room in Peckham which is like a refrigerator, a very, very cold room. I went in bed the lady from the Refugee Council put 50 pence in the machine, she asked if I had any money, I said '100 dollars'. She changes that to pounds, she gave 39 pounds and she gave a number of coins, she gave me this money.
She put 50 pence in the machine. I thought it would continue lighting, once the 50 was finished it went off. I stayed in bed for 18 hours because I was that cold, that was the longest I stayed.
The content of this website is protected by copyright. Do not re-use without permission.