My name is Kyra, I am a refugee from Malaysia. I was an asylum seeker, and my refugee status was granted in 2024. After being granted, my life changed. I got busy doing lots of volunteering and applying for jobs. I was really lucky and at the end of 2025, I secured an apprenticeship with Micro Rainbow as the Services Coordinator.
Services Coordinator apprenticeship
The apprenticeship was my first experience of working in the UK, and it gave me the opportunity to do and learn many new things, like paying bills and invoices, dealing with council tax, and calling and emailing external organisations. As the Services Coordinator, I learnt about working in an office, and took charge of petty cash and reconciliation for events and other office activities. The biggest thing I did during my time was organise the Micro Rainbow team away in Cardiff. I received a lot of really good feedback about it!
I also developed a lot in terms of communication skills and confidence. English is not my first language so at first, I was slow to communicate with colleagues during work or break times. I had a bit of an inferiority complex, and worried that people couldn’t understand what I was trying to say. I was lucky that Micro Rainbow had an intern at the same time – Hein – and they also spoke English as a second language. They really encouraged me to be braver and not worry about making mistakes with English or that I wouldn’t be understood. This really helped me to feel much more confident.
Brushing up on my skills with a Moving On workshop
After my apprenticeship ended, I took part in one of Micro Rainbow’s employability workshops, with Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP. I have been to lots of Social Inclusion events, but this was my first Moving On event. We had the opportunity to work one-on-one with volunteers from the law firm and concentrated on doing mock interviews. Two hours of practising interview skills with eight different volunteers from Weil, Gotshal and Manges – it was very intense!
The workshop did help me a lot though. The mock interviews made me realise I really need to think about and plan my answers to questions. I learned about answering questions using the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to make sure that my answers are more organised. The volunteers helped me to recognise that I my volunteering roles have given me useful and transferrable skills. I have incorporated these into my CV, so it’s gone from one page to two now!
The Weil, Gotshal and Manges volunteers also explained how there are often a variety of different jobs in organisations. For example, you don’t have to have a law degree or be a lawyer to work in a law firm – there are roles in different departments. It was the same with Micro Rainbow – at first I thought the only people that worked at Micro Rainbow were Outreach Officers, but now I know there are lots of different roles in the organisation.
My future – where can I make the most difference?
As a trans migrant that has firsthand live experience as an asylum seeker in the UK, I deeply understand how it feels to live in different parts of the world that are totally new to us. It takes time to forget all the traumas that we have been through. I wish that I could help other LGBTQI asylum seekers in the UK to feel safe and belong to the UK.
So, with all the little things that I have done for three years in the UK, I believe that it is important for me to be seen and to be heard in the LGBTQI community. I hope that my journey may empower and inspire other asylum seekers especially the trans and non-binary community to assimilate with local community. They deserve to know that they are loved – and they need to love themselves more.
I don’t have any specific organisations that I aim to work with at the moment, but I am sure that I will contribute to LGBTQI community in the UK with all my collective experience. The LGBTQI community in the UK has given me a second chance to live my life and do things that I love without changing me for who I am to fit into society.
All images in this article by Daniel Loveday/Comic Relief
