Eight years together. Eight years apart. ... Our story is a true 'struggle against the odds' romance. Both of us are musicians. Moussa is a Guinean, currently resident in The Gambia, Chris is a UK citizen. We have been together for eight years, married for almost six. Along with some friends, we are Toumaranke , a band playing West African music in the tradi-modern genre. None of us earn much. We made our debut album in The Gambia in 2014, with crowdfunding. It used up all our financial resources.

Chris's elderly parents have needed more and more of her time. It has become increasingly hard for her to leave the UK. Chris now lives with her parents as full-time carer.

We have never been able to reach the financial criteria of £18,600 per year for a spouse visa for Moussa to settle in the UK. And we have made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to obtain a visa for Moussa even to visit. Any money we have managed to earn has disappeared on Skype calls and plane tickets.

Imagine our delight to discover that as a full-time carer, Chris is no longer required to meet the £18,600 requirement to apply for a spouse visa for Moussa. At last our dream of a life together, the the same country, can become a reality. There are still daunting costs, however:

£1,523 to apply to the Home Office

£600 immigration health surcharge

£1,300 legal fees

£350 for Moussa to travel to Dakar and take the required English exam

£400 (aprox) for Chris to fly out to The Gambia so they can come back to the UK together when the visa is granted

£700 (aprox) for Moussa's flight to the UK

This doesn't even begin to include money for: innoculations, clothes, phonecalls, photocopying (there's going to be a LOT of paperwork and the Home Office insists on at least one copy of everything), scanning and faxing in a country where the electricity often runs out, travel costs to the British Embassy in The Gambia - etc etc..

We'll happily donate a Toumaranke CD to anyone who supports us who wants one (friends and students who already have a CD will receive our abundant gratitude instead).

When wife and husband are finally united, we will be able to work together properly; to make the music we love, to pour all our creative expression into CD no.2. If we can make a CD, seperated by the Altantic Ocean, just imagine what else we can do when we're living in the same country, in the same house...

With love, Moussa and Chris