Covid Chronicles: Interview with activist and writer Loraine Masiya Mponela

Loraine Masiya Mponela is originally from Malawi and has lived in the UK since 2008. She now lives in Coventry where she is the chair and an active member of the Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action group (CARAG). She is a board member for several refugee/migrant charities in the UK, including the Sisters not Strangers Coalition. She is a community organiser, a dynamic migrants rights campaigner with frequent media appearances, and a poet.

Jeni Williams interviewed Loraine for Covid Chronicles in December 2022, after she had finally received Leave to Remain and launched her first collection of poetry in a dramatic event also featuring the brilliant drumming by Coventry's African Performing Arts group.

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This material is part of the Covid Chronicles from the Margins project, funded by The Open University and the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. The project aims to highlight the impact of the pandemic on refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.