大象传媒 Scotland - 大象传媒 Scotland - 鈥榃e鈥檙e not against people like you鈥� 鈥� the kind of immigrant 鈥榯hey鈥� don鈥檛 have a problem with, and how her life might soon change

鈥榃e鈥檙e not against people like you鈥� 鈥� the kind of immigrant 鈥榯hey鈥� don鈥檛 have a problem with, and how her life might soon change

14 January 2019

Patrycja Kupiec is director of The Young Women’s Movement (YWCA Scotland) charity, a role that involves working with refugees, asylum seekers and women who experience abuse.

She loves Scotland, her adopted home of 12 years but, as a Polish immigrant, is concerned about how her own situation might change as a result of Brexit.

My Migrant Story

Patrycja came to Scotland with 拢100 in her pocket.

“My mum was a cleaner; my dad was a plumber when he was still working in Poland. My dad moved [to Scotland] when Poland joined the EU, when I was 17.”

I came here with 拢100 in my pocket

Patrycja’s father then suffered a stroke, so she came to Scotland to care for him. In the years that followed, she earned a PhD and joined the UK’s working population.

Recently she began to notice that, whenever taxi drivers hear her foreign accent, they ask for her views on Brexit.

“99% of the time, I would hear that ‘It’s not about immigrants like yourself, because you are well educated, you have this well-established career, so we are not against people like yourself.’

“But obviously they don’t know that I came here with £100 in my pocket, with my dad being super-ill. I kind of started from nothing.”

Patrycja is worried about access to the NHS and social security in a post-Brexit world, particularly as she is currently pregnant. But of greater concern to her is the potential for her child to face problems because of Polish parents.

“I really hope no one will make her feel unwelcome just because her parents were not born here.”