Ezana's Mother Granted Visa!
Let's start the day with some good news: Since my last blog on 23rd June The Home Office has granted Ezana's seventy year old mother a visa to celebrate his graduation!! She named her son Ezana after the first King of Axumite civilisation. He is from Ethiopia but the Home Office visa application process is administered in South Africa.
Ezana was upset when he wrote to me that his seventy year old mother could not come to his graduation. His request was that I highlight the issue for others in similar situations. His sense of duty embodies the spirit of The University of Manchester.
My intervention, by writing the blog, was as a citizen. The University of Manchester, the lecturers, alumni, general assembly and students help hundreds of thousands of people locally nationally and internationally, day by day, year by year. One of its three core goals is to be socially responsible. It is not lip service. It is action. The University of Manchester makes me want to be a better citizen.