‘It's eating me up inside': Mum separated from her daughter by 8,000 miles

A refugee has told of how she has coped with the pain of being forced to leave her daughter in Zimbabwe by helping other women go through the asylum process.

Magadaline Moyo, 39, describes feeling immense guilt over leaving her then six-year-old with her parents eight thousand miles away - but says it was a matter of life or death. After it took four years for her to be granted refugee status in the UK, she has since been fighting for her daughter, 12, to join her in Greater Manchester.

For Refugee Week - an annual festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees from June 20-26 - she is sharing her story to raise awareness of the difficulties women like her have faced, and how asylum seekers can find sanctuary in the UK with support networks that build them up and make them feel part of society, as they contribute.

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“I feel guilty about leaving her and feel like I owe her. I’ve missed so many birthdays and Christmases and her first day at school,” Maggy said.

“It’s every mother’s dream to see your child putting on their uniform. But the situation I was in was a matter of life or death.

“The first thing that came to mind was ‘let me run’. I knew she was in capable hands and I didn’t know where I was going.

“I didn’t think it was something that would take this long and I had the faith that in a few months we would be together again. I got my refugee status, but unfortunately, the process isn’t straightforward to get my daughter here - you don’t get your children automatically. It’s another fight.”

The mum-of-one has submitted an application for her daughter and has hired solicitors with