Hello, my name is Moses, I am twenty five years of age and I come from a country in West Africa. I have been granted asylum in Greece, and I am now looking for ways in which I can continue with my personal life as an independent citizen, and keep working to defend human rights, as a lawyer. I would like to tell you my story, and ask for your support in order to continue with my life now that I am safe.

When I was at a tender age, my father divorced my mother, disowned me - I have never met him. In 2004, I lost my mother too, which exposed me to a severe hard life. Nonetheless, I was adopted by a Catholic priest back in my country, who paid school fees for me from Junior School to High School. In 2009, I sat for the West African Senior School Examination Council where I scored high mark leading me to secure a place at the University of the Gambia, Faculty of Law. The same priest was impressed with me despite all my family fracas and being an orphan, and he continued to pay for my four years of Bachelors Degree in Law. I was enrolled at the University of the Gambia in 2010 and graduated as a Lawyer in 2014.

In 2015, I started working with the government of my country. One of my main duties of work was to train the Police Forces on criminal procedures and the respect to Fundamental Human Rights encapsulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Among the trainings we conducted, we focused on the identification of suspects, the respect for their rights, conducting interrogations and cautionary/voluntary statements from suspects, the prohibition of torture. In addition, I also became an advocate for the defence of human rights violations.

Unfortunately, for security reasons and to protect myself, I was forced to abandon my job and flee my country. At the time, I was enrolled on a Masters of Law, and was not able to finalise it. I was able to reach Greece and apply for asylum, which was granted to me recently.

Here in Greece I tried as much as possible to integrate myself by attending lectures at the University. I did International and European Social Law, Comparative Law and have participated in lectures, volunteering to make presentations and earning certificates of attendance. However, I believe the time has come for me to pursue the development of my career as a Lawyer, and finish what I started when I had to leave my country.

I have applied to enrol on a LLM in Transnational European Commercial Law, Banking, Arbitration /Mediation at a well recognised University in Greece. I want to study this course in order to have a thorough analysis and understanding of Transnational Commercial Law, and be able to mediate and advocate for fair trade solutions. I want to have a better understanding of how cross- border business activities, companies and financial markets are regulated and how the standard procedure of dispute resolutions are conducted. I think of myself as a lawyer who will organize forums to help innovative investors be informed about EU laws and regulations on commercial trade, aiming to enable third world countries to get involved, ensuring there is justice during transnational commerce involving States and other smaller initiatives throughout their international trade processes. Above all, I want to support those who are unfairly treated during financial and commercial transactions and trades. My biggest dream is to work with the International Labour Organization.

I am happy that I have been accepted for this LLM, and can see that is an incredible opportunity to continue following my dream. The course is one year and a half with a tuition fee of 4500 euros. The good part of it is that the university waived 1300 euros through a scholarship granted to me, and now I am to pay 2700 euros for the course and 500 euros is to be paid before the course will start.

In light of the above, I am seeking for financial assistance from anyone who can help me restore my hope to rebuild my life again.

This initiative is backed by a group of humanitarian workers who have worked with me and guided me through my asylum application and integration in the city where I live. Because of my situation, I hope you can understand I am not able to share any pictures of myself, full name or any identifiable information - for security reasons.

I would appreciate any support you may want to give me. I will keep you all on my prayers and will keep you updated on my career development.

Thank you very much for your support.

Moses.

In the video link, you can get a glimpse of Moses' new life in Greece and his attempt to be integrated in the city of Thessaloniki, supported by the NGO Terre des Hommes.

***If you want to support Moses, please register on the page - it only takes a minute. For more details check the following link*** https://www.giveandfund.com/giveandfund/page/payment-methods 

UPDATE REGARDING THE GOAL OF THE CAMPAIGN: 

On 24/10 we received the wonderful news that Moses has managed to advocate for himself and secured an extra 50% scholarship from the International Hellenic University - this means that the total fees for Moses' education & the goal for the campaign has gotten reduced to 1600 euros.