e: Building

. "It's real. You're here. And you're staying." "I want to," Esi said. "But sometimes I don't know who I'm becoming. I used to think I was defined by what I didn't say. Now that I've started speaking, I don't know where the voice ends." Kemi tilted her head. "That just means you're growing. Becoming someone you've never had the safety to imagine before." Esi looked down at the papers. "I'm scared I'll mess it up." "You won't." Kemi leaned forward, brushing a strand of hair from Esi's face. "You're not alone anymore." It was a simple truth, but one Esi had never fully let herself believe. Not until now. The weeks passed, and Esi found work translating documents for a small NGO that supported African asylum seekers. The job was part-time and modestly paid, but it gave her a purpose-and a glimpse of others walking the same thin line between who they were and who the world let them be. One day, a young Nigerian woman named Tolu came into the office, eyes wide with fear, clutching a folder of legal documents with trembling hands. She barely spoke above a whisper, and when Esi gently offered her water, she flinched. Later, as they sat in the meeting room, Tolu finally said, "I told them I was gay. They said if I went back, my uncle would... would do things." Esi swallowed hard. "You're safe here." Tolu looked at her like she wanted to believe it. "You say that so easily." "I