Scotland has been very kind to us – but we are slowly dying on this little island
Syrian refugees struggling on Bute Father’s suicide bid at shame of handouts But they praise the welcome in small town
WHEN the first Syrian refugees were flown to Britain and new homes on the isle of Bute, it was a move as surprising as it was historic.
Dozens of men, women, and children fleeing the war-torn country were offered sanctuary in the small town of Rothesay. Yet even as the new arrivals were transported through the wintry drizzle by bus, then a ferry over the Clyde, many observers wondered how they would adapt to island life. Now, eight months later, some of the refugees have delivered their verdict: they want to leave.
Two of the Syrian families approached The Scottish Mail on Sunday to voice their concerns.
Isolated and depressed, they say they feel trapped on an island where there are few prospects and little to do.
Struggling to learn English, they say their pleas to find work or voluntary posts have fallen on deaf ears.
The fathers of the two families – both proud men who used to run their own businesses – say they are ashamed of receiving charity. They clearly adore their wives and children yet feel powerless to provide for them.
Most days, they stay indoors or take short walks on the seafront.
Yet despite their complaints, they are at pains to insist that they like the islanders and are profoundly grateful for the hospitality they have received.
In an exclusive interview, family members disclosed the story behind their extraordinary escape from the shattered ruins of their homeland.
They discuss the horrors of the war, bombing and months of torture.
They also heap praise on the people of Scotland and – somewhat unexpectedly – the weather.
We spoke to Abd, 42, and his wife Rasha, 35. They have four children, the oldest of whom is 13.
With them were Rasha’s sister Fatima, 31, and her husband Hassan, 41. They have two daughters, aged nine and 11.
Speaking through a professional interpreter, Rasha said the island was ‘full of old people’ and described it as ‘where people come to die’.
Abd said he felt ‘humiliated’ by council staff and recently drank a whole bottle of whisky as part of a failed suicide attempt that put him in hospital. Hassan said surviving on charity made him feel ‘suffocated’. And Fatima is worried about her and Rasha’s mother, who is still in Lebanon and whom she is unable to visit.
The families arrived via the Home Office’s Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme last year.
It aims to rehome 20,000 Syrians in the UK by 2020 and prioritises the most vulnerable, who cannot be supported in their country of origin.
The refugees have been granted five years’ Humanitarian Protection status, permission to work and access to public funds. Twelve months of costs, excluding economic integration, are met by the UK’s overseas aid budget.
Argyll and Bute Council was among 16 Scottish local authorities to sign up for the initiative.
The first 100 Syrian refugees flew to Britain in November last year. Arriving in Glasgow, they were pictured wrapped in warm winter coats as they braved a blustery downpour.
At the time, Minister for Transport and Islands Humza Yousaf described their arrival as a ‘proud day’ and said: ‘I would like to extend the warmest of welcomes on behalf of the people of Scotland to the Syrian refugees and wish them all the best as they start their new lives here.’
However, the initial excitement for the families has dimmed with time.
The four adults spoke in the living room of a first-floor council flat. Warm, well-equipped, and bright, it has a large flat-screen television and a Koran displayed on a corner table.
Impeccably polite children run in and out of the room and the front door to the flat, in line with Syrian tradition, is kept open in welcome.
Abd and Rasha’s youngest daughter, aged three, proudly shows off a fluffy ginger kitten.
Abd, who took the lead in speaking for the family, said: ‘At first, of course, I was really happy to come to the UK. It is the mother of freedom.
‘People treated me really well, really nice. Scotland is beautiful. I love the weather. There are some people who like this weather, and I like it. I like the winter. But for six, seven months now there has been nowhere to go. They are telling us, we have only two months of a living island. Then, it is going to die for ten months.
‘There is no movement, there is nothing. I’m not bored any more. I am depressed now. I feel like I have one option now – to die here. Only die here, nothing else.’
The family had believed, when travelling to Britain, they would be housed in a city. Abd said: ‘I didn’t expect to come to this island. We thought we were going to London or Manchester.’
It seems that communication has
‘I feel like I can’t breathe, I am suffocating’
broken down with some of the council staff tasked with helping the Syrians build new lives on Bute.
Abd explained: ‘We have no problem with the council. The government or the council will never treat anyone in a bad way. Not a Syrian, not any other person.
‘But whenever we say anything about moving off the island, we are told “We had to pay a lot of money to bring you here”. I feel like it’s an obligatory residence. I feel humiliated. I didn’t come here for anyone to control me.’
Abd has been making frequent trips to Glasgow to look for a job.
He said: ‘Syrian people like to be busy. We have to move, not to sit down. I like to be busy working. I have a profession, windows for cars and houses. I can make them in half an hour. We had a company. I have a five-year permit and I am allowed to work. But I’m told I have to learn English first.’
Both families are excited by the prospect of moving to either Glasgow or Manchester.
Abd said: ‘I think if I go to a place where there are more Arabic people then I can communicate with them and learn English here and there and probably catch a job.’
His wife misses the bustle of city life. Rasha said: ‘Who comes to this island, comes to die slowly. From the first day I arrived to this island, I felt like I can’t breathe, I am suffocating.
‘We used to live in the middle of the city, go out, come in, not staying in one house. There is nothing here. Who comes here, comes to die. There is no hope for tomorrow. I just wake up, eat, drink, and sleep.’
Bute is one of 23 islands in the Argyll and Bute council area. Although picturesque, it has high unemployment and Rothesay is in the top 15 per cent of the most deprived areas in Scotland.
Hassan used to run a construction firm. He said: ‘I need to work, give me anything to work in. I am not used to someone giving me money. I want to pay my own expenses.’
Both families were chosen from a UN database after registering as refugees in Lebanon four years ago.
Rasha said it was a huge relief to escape the district of Baba Amr in the city of Homs, which was destroyed by bombing.
She added: ‘It’s really, really hard to leave your country, but we had to. I was really worried about the kids.
‘We were in danger. We escaped by hiding in a vehicle full of vegetables and luggage.
‘There was a lot of helicopters and airplanes, it was a war zone. There was no water, no electricity, no food. The whole of Baba Amr is over, it is finished, it is on the ground.’
Both Abd and Hassan were imprisoned and tortured. Hassan showed the scars where he was shocked with electric cables.
He said: ‘They put me into a bathroom. I was blindfolded, tied up, then hit. They started beating me with the back of their guns and with electric shocks.’
Abd, smoking a cigarette, looked traumatised and exhausted. He said: ‘I don’t want to go back over it. But because of what happened, my children needed three operations.’
He himself is due to have surgery to repair a shoulder shattered by beatings. With grim humour, he said: ‘It’s not like they give you chocolate and biscuits. They say, “How are you?” and hit you.’
The children appear happy and carefree and are learning English. However, Abd and Rasha’s oldest son has serious medical problems.
Abd said: ‘He has been in hospital seven times since we have been here. I want to move. I have to follow my child’s case. If I want to go to the hospital, it’s a lot of money.’
Experts have warned that the experience of the Bute families highlights difficulties in resettling refugees.
More Syrians arrived in Stornoway, on Lewis, last week. While there is plenty of goodwill, the policy to rehome them in more remote locations will need extra effort if it is to succeed. Dr Jonathon Darling, a senior lecturer in human geography at the University of Manchester, said: ‘Without employment, many refugees feel they are receiving charity and, while grateful, find this demeaning and frustrating.’
However, it is clear, when they posed for photographs, that a bond has nonetheless developed between the Syrians and the people of Bute.
A Scottish neighbour, puffing past on a bicycle, stops to say hello, and one of the children runs to hug him.
A little girl with a local accent watches curiously and is rewarded with a gentle high-five from Abd.
Even though he is determined to leave, Abd is certain he would return. He said: ‘The children are related to this island, they have to visit.’
A spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘We’re disappointed that two families are not happy on Bute. These are not the views of the majority of our families, who are settling in well and making the most of all the opportunities of support and welcome available.’
All names have been changed due to fears about family members still in Syria.
‘I need to work. Give me anything to work in’