After escaping political persecution in Guinea, I came to the UK in 2003 to seek asylum. Although I was dispatched by the Home Office to Sheffield, I soon began to feel that it was my home. Throughout the long and difficult period before I was granted leave to remain in the UK my favourite place to hangout was the Winter Garden. I was never disturbed or asked to leave. I particularly liked to sit next to the bamboo and think about my Grandma. I had always helped her cut bamboo to repair her house or make her fence. When city workers came to have their break in the Garden they helped me think positively about my future and gave me the ambition to have an education. Sheffield is now my home for life.

Winter Garden