Love and hope brought me to this country in 2003, after circumnavigating the globe from my home country The Netherlands, via Australasia. As an Agnostic woman, I suddenly found myself in an orthodox Jewish family, the last Kosher butcher in Scotland, who were holding on tight to their traditions and the expectations from their closed society, over their non-Jewish in-laws... they did not put us first. The bond broke, piece by piece and when I became independent, I was astounded to find myself to be LGBTQ+++ safe in a country to love and marry who you love. I’m taking artistic steps though painting and am starting continued education for conservation, to roam this beautiful Earth, but to always return to the home I chose, the multicultural, and as far as I continue to believe, inclusive, United Kingdom. My life long love affair.

-Lisette, Oxford