Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
‘I left everything behind when I came to London from Syria’
REFUGEE Week 2022 started on June 20 and this year’s theme is ‘healing’ and the human ability to start again.
For refugees, this concept is important as most of those who arrive as asylum seekers have had to leave everything behind, including family, and start their life all over again.
One woman who was forced to leave everything behind after growing up in Syria spoke to MyLondon about the difficult journey she had to take towards rebuilding her life.
West Londoner Loujean Alsaman arrived in the city when she was just 20-years-old. The Media and Public Relations specialist came alone, which she found very challenging, especially as she had come from a tight-knit family.
Speaking to MyLondon, the 29-year-old said: “We are really attached to family, family is everything for us, we don’t leave the house till we get married so it was very challenging.
“I arrived when I was 20 by myself to a different culture, language, society, I knew English but not to the level where I can go to university and start working.
“Everything was totally a shock, I waited to get my papers and took the time to read, learn and discover, I did exams to get to university and I got into university – it was challenging as I had studied law and when I realised it was not for me I started from the beginning and pursued Public Relations, it was a huge challenge.
“My life was about deciding what I should be, discovering myself, to which society I should get involved with the most. I decided I wanted to be a new person in this new atmosphere.
“I should ignore the idea that you can’t live by yourself, a lot of people
[I]magine you go to a different country, with a different society and language and you can’t be in your country again – that’s a trauma. Loujean Alsaman
were a bit negative saying you can’t be alone so I avoided all the negativity. “I focused on going to university to complete my degree and I started work with a public relations agency.” In the first six to eight months Loujean started volunteering in women’s charities and spent her time learning English academically. But the huge change felt like “a little prison” she says, which she decided to turn into a positive by embracing the culture.
Being new to the country and culture, Loujean worked hard and spent time after work to learn about clients she would work with.
The company she worked in focused on arts and entertainment, with artists and singers she didn’t grow up with.
She said: “I worked extra hours trying to discover new artists or clients and singers that I didn’t know that English people knew, they had grown up with it, it was very challenging, but I enjoyed it and I’m still enjoying it.”
The whole experience taught Loujean to be herself, she says that though it was horrible in the beginning, she is grateful as she has become strong and independent and is happy working in a public relations agency called Borkowski.
Speaking about Refugee Week, she said: “I feel it’s a duty for me to inspire people who have had the same experience as mine, these people shouldn’t be neglected, it’s not their fault as they have dreams and I actually think they are stronger than other people as they left everything behind and started from scratch.
“It’s a big thing to do – imagine you go to a different country, with a different society and language and you can’t be in your country again – that’s a trauma.
“In terms of the Rwanda plan, I do believe we can’t send people to be in danger – if the UK should banish someone it’s the traffickers, not the people, but they seem to be banishing the people and not the problem.
“To other refugees, I would say just don’t give up. It’s so easy to give up. If I had given up I wouldn’t have a job, I would just be a very dark person who is stuck in their past, don’t give up your dreams.
“My goal is now to become more creative in the media and public relations world.”