Waliur's story

"I wanted to experience life outside of where I grew up."

It was rough where I lived growing up. There were a lot of gangs around the area and I was quite impressionable. I thought they were so cool and I wanted to be like them. There are a lot of things that could have made me a bad person, like the area I grew up in and the people I had around me.  Despite that I’m proud of the person I’ve become. My personality allowed me to be who I am today and I’m glad I chose to come here. I wanted to experience life outside of where I grew up."

Now my main goal is to get a good job. I’m trying to live up to the expectations of my family. My older brother is doing really well, he’s just finishing his Masters degree and is then going to do a PhD in Australia – so that’s the kind of heights I’m trying to reach too.

I’d like to be my own boss and make money working for myself. And I really like cars; they are my passion so maybe I could have my own garage. But that’s in the distant future. Right now, ideally I’d like to go into banking or finance. I’ve applied for graduate jobs at places like the Bank of England and I’m waiting to hear back.