Bianca deserves the best birthday this year, and I'll tell you why!

Bianca is a warm hearted and determined young woman. She has a passion for music and children. However her life has been stumped by a stifling migration system.

Following troubling circumstances in her home country, she has been seeking asylum in the UK, during which she has not been legally allowed to work. She lives off £5 a day, and struggles to do much, such as volunteer or study, with travel expenses as much as they are in London.

She feels isolated and powerless. And to top that off, she has experienced some of the harshest detention centres our country has to offer.

Last year, the day before her birthday, Bianca was released from the detention centre. It was moment of hope, but also of confusion and struggle, after all she had experienced. Her birthday passed by without much thought or celebration.

On asking Bianca how she'd like to spend her birthday this year, she said she wished to leave the city, to escape to somewhere special for the day, like Brighton. She wants to take a couple of friends, walk along the beach, and eat an ice cream, if it's not too cold!

The money will pay for their train tickets, phone credit for the trip, food on the go, perhaps a birthday cake, and whatever else she would like to spend the birthday money on.

Can you help make this a birthday trip a reality for Bianca? It is massively appreciated.

I met Bianca through a mentorship programme run by a charity called Routes. If you would like to get involved supporting female asylum seekers and refugees in the UK you can find out more here: https://www.weareroutes.com/aboutroutes/