Hello, my name is Ryan Yon, I’m 34 years old and I am currently homeless in Chester and I am trying to find a way back to my country of birth.

I was born in St Helena, it's a beautiful Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. My life was beautiful there, I could swim in the warm sea after school and play out in the hot sun…it was almost a cliché.

Then in 2000, my Mum and Dad decided to come to the UK to improve their life. Also to provide a positive future for myself, brother and sisters. I didn’t want to go, but I was a child, I had no choice. When I arrived in England it was cold but the people I found very friendly and kind and they still are.

My Mum and Dad divorced 2010, my Dad left, leaving my Mum to bring us all up. She is now looking after her disabled son, my younger brother, in a small house. She has now re-married and has two more step children to care for. She is torn between caring for my disabled brother, her new family and me. She can’t help me much, although she can provide an evening meal now and again. She would love to keep me at home but there is simply no room in the house.

My housing situation is this.

I am currently living in a friend’s shed. He has told me I can stay there until Christmas, then I have to move. I really appreciate his kindness but he has a family and it’s not suitable for him.

It does feel like a living nightmare and I am not without blame. I fell behind paying my rent to Weaver Vale. This was because I was on Universal Credit and I was receiving my housing benefit through that. It was pretty confusing. I wanted to work so I got a zero hours job at Morrisons. It was just manual labouring, but I still wanted to work, even though the hours fluctuated. What I didn't realise was this totally messed my housing benefit support allowance. I didn’t realise they were reducing my housing benefit each month, so I fell into arrears. I genuinely thought the Universal Credit was covering my rent but I was clearly wrong. I received letters and phone calls informing me but i just ignored them, I was too scared of the debt I was building.

Inevitably, I received my eviction notice. It was on the 23rd of November 2017. Now I am homeless and penniless and I just want to go home.

So, here I am. I am genuinely scared, lonely and confused. I feel abandoned by the benefit system, because JobCentre Plus tell me I cannot claim benefits because I haven’t paid enough money into the system because I have been on a low wage.

The photo taken of me is by John at Chester Aid to the homeless, they are trying to help me with this page. It is the first time I have seen snow in my life and it’s made me feel more desperate to go back to my country and be with my family and friends.

I totally understand how this must sound, if things were different, like if I had a proper job and a secure home to live in, I would stay but now I have no option, no source of income and I can’t find employment because I am homeless. I can’t even access homeless accommodation because I can’t claim benefits. I am totally helpless. I am hoping you can change me life through JustGiving.