A young asylum seeker has described his arduous journey to the UK after fleeing his troubled homeland.

Melaku was just 12 when he left Ethiopia in 2015 after protests and resistance swept the streets.

He endured almost a year of trying to find a new place to call home before ending up in Chichester in 2016.

Melaku, now 21, said: “When I left home, I really didn't think much about it. I thought about survival, just about getting somewhere, what our next meal would be and where we were going to spend the night.”

He spent a month in Sudan, three months in Egypt and endured a month’s journey across Libya.

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In Sudan, Melaku and others were held captive due to arguments over money with a human trafficking agency.

He finally reached Europe after being lost at sea in the Mediterranean for a week.

He was picked up by the Italian Coastguard and put into a camp.

He said: “This camp looked like a concentration camp. Not in the worst way, but I mean, they were trying to isolate people. So they had barbed wire around it because they didn’t want people running around their country.

“I understand that now, but back then it was a bit weird having two to three security guards and a big fence with barbed wire around it.

“And then they had big, white shipping containers with a single bed in each one. They gave us three meals a day, but of course, it was always gruel in a bowl. So for those few days, we felt like prisoners.”

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After Italy, Melaku was homeless in Paris, sleeping outside and sharing food, before he ended up in a camp in Calais.

Inside the camp, Melaku said he received one meal a day and slept in shacks with flies, although at the time he “didn’t know any better”.

Melaku began his journey to the UK in late 2016 when anyone under 16 was given the chance to go to the UK on a bus to seek asylum. He arrived at the Home Office in October before being placed with his foster carer in Chichester, Sonia .

Melaku attended Bishop Luffa School after being desperate to get into education.

Sonia said: “We did have to fight for everything at school. When he first came, he really wanted to go to school.

“His education was very important to him. So he actually arrived with us at the end of October and by Christmas he had started gently into school.”

Melaku said: “I feel at home here. I never have to worry about anything. I don't even have to worry about my future.

“I've got my education to focus on. I have plenty of opportunities to do what I want. I can think freely for myself without worrying about what someone will do to me. I can do what I want to do instead of just following the crowd.”

Melaku was homed through West Sussex fostering agency Compass Fostering.