Gulwali Passarlay

At 16 I was finally at school in Bolton, doing my GCIEs. I’d spent the three years since I arrived in Britain in dispute with the home office and social services over my age and nationality. By the time I was 16 I was still in legal limbo regarding my refugee status, but they let me go to school. I was put into a foster placement with a wonderful couple, but foster placement was very new for me, so it was very strange. And my brother had left me to go home to support our mother, who was in danger. So I was very stressed out. Things were pretty bad in my life, except at school.

[by US forces, after which the Taliban tried to recruit him and his brother]. Then I had to travel a very long