Refugees will enrich places and make them better
I didn’t think of leaving at the beginning of the war, I loved my home and had dreams of living there with my kids but when there was an explosion right next to my husband’s company, we knew we had to leave. If I had been alone, I might have done things differently, but with kids I needed to think about their safety and future. If something had happened to them, I would never have forgiven myself. If we had stayed and lived or died, we would’ve just been numbers but because we got the chance to leave, we have been able to thrive.
In Syria, we had a good life. I was lucky enough to come from a family where education meant a lot, one of my sisters is a doctor, two of my brothers are engineers, another one is a pharmacist, my mother is a Biologist, and my dad has a PhD in Food Science. In Syria, your options for university courses depended on the grades you obtained in your final year of high school. I liked Science and Biology and I finished the degree but when I started working in a lab, I found the field was very repetitive. There was no interaction with people, it was boring, and it wasn’t my ambition. I managed to get a job in a language centre and then I was offered a scholarship to study in Parsons in Abu Dhabi. I was 21 at the time and I loved the experience, I learned French and started a degree in Language and Civilisation. I felt it added value to my life because I was able to meet people and live by myself.
Not long after that I met my husband. I started going to work with him. He noticed my passion and drive and he suggested I go back to university to study Pharmacology. I did go back, but my university was in Deraa which is where the Syrian war started in 2010. Slowly services started to become more scare, you started feeling uneasy and always expected an attack from anywhere and at any time. It was manageable until the explosion and constant bombings. We had to leave.
On the flight to the UK, I was only thinking about the safety of my children. Thinking about the other things comes gradually, your first priority is to reach somewhere safe. Only once you’re settled do you think about what’s next. My children were 10 months, 2.5 and 3.5 years old when we left. They don’t remember anything about the journey or their lives in Syria because they were so young. My brother-in-law lived in Huddersfield and with help from my family we managed to apply for asylum and were granted humanitarian protection. My husband joined us 6 months later, it was difficult to live without him, but we had no other choice.
On the flight to the UK, I was only thinking about the safety of my children. Thinking about the other things comes gradually, your first priority is to reach somewhere safe. Only once you’re settled do you think about what’s next. My children were 10 months, 2.5 and 3.5 years old when we left. They don’t remember anything about the journey or their lives in Syria because they were so young. My brother-in-law lived in Huddersfield and with help from my family we managed to apply for asylum and were granted humanitarian protection. My husband joined us 6 months later, it was difficult to live without him, but we had no other choice.
You need a lot of self-confidence when you find yourself in very hard circumstances. You need to strengthen yourself from inside. You shouldn’t care how people look at you. You can’t accept judgment; those people don’t know what you’re capable of.
You need a lot of self-confidence when you find yourself in very hard circumstances. You need to strengthen yourself from inside. You shouldn’t care how people look at you. You can’t accept judgment; those people don’t know what you’re capable of. My husband and I used to strengthen each other. We would reflect and remind ourselves of why we are here, what do we need to do, and we managed to keep going together. My husband and I had visited Europe for business trips but it’s very different in a sales meeting versus when you claim asylum. We lost everything and we had no assets, normally people value other people’s assets.
Eventually the rest of my family came to join us in the UK. When I was leaving Syria, I remember my dad telling me not to go but later when he joined us in the UK, he said it had been a good thing that we had left. When I make a decision, I make sure to weigh the advantages and disadvantages so I can live without regrets.
It hasn’t been easy in the UK, when we first arrived, we faced a lot of financial difficulties. I remember walking past shops and being able to look at the goods but not being able to buy anything, it hurt. I told myself if we have an obstacle, we have to solve it. It’s better to aim for a solution and to never look back and compare, otherwise you’ll never be able to focus. I wanted to focus on how to get our lifestyle back and the life I had envisioned for our children.
Originally, I wanted to continue my studies in the medical field, but I couldn’t because the UK wouldn’t equalise my degree. I had to work to support my family, we had lost everything, and I was constantly thinking about what I knew how to do and how I could help.
Originally, I wanted to continue my studies in the medical field, but I couldn’t because the UK wouldn’t equalise my degree. I had to work to support my family, we had lost everything, and I was constantly thinking about what I knew how to do and how I could help. I have always been good at cooking and liked adding my own touch to the food I made. Whenever I invited people to my house in Damascus, I used to enjoy managing the party and doing the calculations precisely, so everything was perfectly.
After living in the UK for a while I spotted a niche in the market and decided to try to make Dama cheese. People in the UK already knew about Haloumi cheese because they visited Greece and Cyprus, but they were surprised to learn we had it in Syria as well. I wanted to add my own twist to it, so I chose to use local resources. The first time we made it we were experimenting at home. Back then we thought making the product would be the hardest part, but that turned out to be easy. The harder part was turning the idea into a business. We had no finances and had to figure out how to work with what we had to turn it into a viable business. The business required a lot of physical work and long hours.
When we first started, we needed a space to make the cheese and my brother-in-law had a fried chicken shop which he offered it to us because we couldn’t afford much at the time. In Syria I never had to work like this, we had to clean the floors and scrape the grease off the counters to have a clean space to make the cheese. The first batch took us 24 hours to make, we used to go back home every day with wet clothes and smelling of cheese. My mother would help look after my kids and I was very lucky to have her around. It’s not a shame to work, but it is a shame to have health and a good mind but make yourself miserable, for me this is the real shame.
I entered the World Cheese Awards and ended up winning the Bronze Award. For me, this was a sign to continue because I felt I was doing something right. I remember at the event, when I sat down to eat, at the table beside us an elderly man was sitting there with his daughter. They looked over at us and asked if we were enjoying the free food. When I told them, I wasn’t there for the free food and I was a cheesemaker who was a finalist in the competition, they couldn’t believe it. Only after I shared that I had a Pharmacology degree did they look at me differently and tried to be kind in their own way.
Overall, my experience hasn’t been bad. Sometimes people ask if we have cars and internet back in Syria, but I just laugh. When I tell people, I am a refugee and I’ve created this business, they appreciate it. I’ve had a lot of support; people approach me and say I am adding value to society and they’re happy to have me in Yorkshire. The people who talk badly about refugees don’t really understand us.
As a refugee there is an unfair burden on us to prove our skills and to prove we aren’t guilty. We don’t need to prove ourselves to anyone. We don’t own this war. We didn’t start it. You can’t stereotype an entire group of people. We shouldn’t have to work this hard to overcome the negative labels because of the misdeeds of a few.
A refugee is someone who had been forced to go somewhere else. You lose your assets and when you have those you feel like you have stability and control over your life, and that you have some form of power. As a refugee you lose all of that, you lose your power. As a refugee, all you have is to rebuild your life. As a refugee there is an unfair burden on us to prove our skills and to prove we aren’t guilty. We don’t need to prove ourselves to anyone. We don’t own this war. We didn’t start it. You can’t stereotype an entire group of people. We shouldn’t have to work this hard to overcome the negative labels because of the misdeeds of a few.
I want people to understand that people who have decided to flee have to be strong otherwise they won’t make it to safety or start a new life. To get on a boat to seek safety takes a lot of strength and it’s wrong to lose this strength. Most refugees are at their highest energy levels when they arrive because they come with hope and the dreams of building a better life, but they need to be supported better.
When people work, they feel like they exist. If skilled people are kept out of work for 4/5 years while they wait for decisions it will become a societal problem because they will invalidate their skills.
I have many refugee friends, but life for them is hopeless because most of them are waiting for their papers and decisions from the Home Office. I think the US has a better system for refugees, they are able to get temporary residence which allows them to work. When people work, they feel like they exist. If skilled people are kept out of work for 4/5 years while they wait for decisions it will become a societal problem because they will invalidate their skills.
More needs to be done to draw attention to the contributions made by refugees. The media shows one picture of a mom crying and pulling her children behind her, but that isn’t the truth for all refugees. My dream is to spread awareness about refugees and tell people they don’t have to stay away from refugees like they are a pandemic. Refugees will enrich the places they arrive and make it better. Don’t judge people, give them a chance.