Zimbabwean man's story about seeking asylum in the UK

Growing up in Zimbabwe, Masimba Musodza's perception of British life was from the TV show Only Fools and Horses.

"I thought they only talked like that because it was a comedy," said the 38-year-old author who left his native country in 2002 and lived in London until he moved to Middlesbrough in May 2010 when he was granted refugee status.

His mum, Catherine, who still lives in the capital, Harare, makes Masimba laugh as she describes the plot of BBC's EastEnders.

"She thinks it's like a life documentary," he said. "I have to tell it's not like that really."

Being able to talk freely about whatever he wants is not something Masimba takes for granted.

As a writer working for UNESCO - Zimbabwe Film & Video Training Project for Southern Africa in Harare, which was housed in a Government building, attempts to censor his political voice occurred until it reached a point where he was threatened.

Even his late father warned him to leave the country and never return.

What Masimba thought may be a few months or even a few years has now transgressed into him accepting his life is here now.

"I am British now and I like it here," he said. "The hardest thing for me is knowing I can never go back. People talk over here about freedom of speech but they don't realise how lucky they are."

But he keeps in touch with his mum and siblings and his relatives living in London via phone or online.

As an asylum seeker, he has been faced with various prejudices.

"People think they know what an asylum seeker should be like and should do for a job," said Masimba, whose published books include Yesterday's Dog, Satanism: The Greatest Trick the Devil Played and The Man Who Turned into a Rastafarian.

He said there are many misconceptions about how the asylum system works.

For a start, he did not choose to come to Middlesbrough, it was the Home Office who decided - he had never even heard of the town.

"The idea that there is some sort of invasion by asylum seekers on Middlesbrough is simply ludicrous," said Masimba, a BA Creative Writing student at Teesside University.

"Virtually all asylum seekers are housed by a private company contracted by the Home Office. This housing is only for the duration of the processing of the case. So a day after I got a letter from the Home Office to say that I had been granted refugee status, I got a letter from Jomast (the then contractor, it is now G4S) to say that I had to leave the accommodation in a month's time.

"Asylum seekers and refugees cost Middlesbrough nothing at all. Some will claim benefits but the majority will pay their own way."

He loves Middlesbrough and is "fiercely protective" of the places he calls home.

"I am glad I made that decision to stay in Middlesbrough," he said. "The town gets a lot of bad press, and there are social and economic problems but I am fiercely protective of my new home.

"It's quite strange that I learned that the biggest bridge in Zimbabwe was actually built here.

"It is not as affluent as the part of my native country that I am from, but I am happy that I can write what I like without the fear of being taken away in the middle of the night by Government agents."