We were held on Suella Braverman’s Bibby Stockholm barge – and we’re terrified of going back there

Much has been written over weeks and months about the Bibby Stockholm, the barge upon which the Home Office seeks to accommodate more than 500 asylum seekers. We are among them. We were on the Bibby Stockholm. Let us tell you what that was like, and our view of the asylum system.

The message we’d like people to know is this: we are tired of being treated like this. We cannot cope with these conditions. We are all victims of a game that is played by politicians.

There were 39 of us on the barge, from different countries. We are people escaping torture, persecution and imprisonment. We were forced to leave our homes, our jobs and our families, and we hoped to find safety in the UK.

When we were told we would be moved to the Bibby Stockholm, we became worried, not least because we were warned it was dangerous. However, we are law-abiding and wanted to respect the decision of the authorities. On board, although none of us are criminals, we were constrained by the tight security, and we felt far removed from normal life.

We were very frightened when some of us began to fall ill. One person even tried to take his own life. We had no information and felt we were the last people to learn what was happening. When an epidemic was discovered, we were removed from the barge, and we’re now in an old and abandoned hotel. We’re still under a lot of strain, not knowing what will happen to us next. We feel very low.

People boarding the Bibby Stockholm at Portland Port in Dorset on 16 August 2023. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

There are lots of asylum seekers here in the UK. Sending 500 of them to stay in a boat is not the most logical step. But it serves a purpose. The government is putting us against the public, by saying this is your taxpayers’ money being wasted on asylum seekers. They are putting all the blame on us.

We’d like to clarify things – so the public can have information about the real issues and what this life is like. We are in an isolated hotel with mediocre food and no basic rights; we don’t have a work permit or the chance to make our own choices. We have to wait a long time for a decision on our cases – sometimes three or four years. Why is the process like this?

The whole thing is a political show. They say they want to reduce the cost of the asylum system, but this boat and the way we have been dealt with must have cost a fortune. At the moment there are 39 asylum seekers here, and there are 20 staff for 39 people. Previously, in our hotel before we were moved to the Bibby Stockholm, there were only about 10 members of staff for 300 asylum seekers, so how can that be said to be about reducing the cost?

The public needs to ask the government for a clear plan on how they deal with asylum seekers, and the government should publish that plan, with the figures.

The experience takes its toll. We’re all struggling mentally. Some of us are married and all of us are away from our families, and worried about them. We’re constantly stressed, many of us are on medication, some of us have serious health conditions. And we feel the situation is getting worse.

The Home Office has said that if you don’t go back to the Bibby Stockholm, your support will stop, and you’ll intentionally make yourself homeless. So we don’t have a choice. According to the security staff, we may be returned to the ship in a week or 10 days.

It’s like being bait in a trap. We feel as if we are being hunted by the Home Office, when all we want now is a system that treats us fairly, a swift interview, a stable future and a voice. Please be our voice.