Building new lives in a new land
“The families we work with have left behind everyone they know and love, many of whom might be in danger,” said refugee worker Sally Harris. “They have also left behind their family roles and their sense of place within the world.”
Sally is the Refugee Resettlement service manager at Julian House in Bath. “When people arrive in the UK, they have been brought to a place of relative safety,” she said.
However the type of accommodation that can be offered can be basic compared to what they were accustomed to back home.
“Our customers might be physically in Bath, but their hearts and souls are often still in Syria or wherever they call home,” she said.
“They are typically very keen to work, to integrate and to rebuild their lives in a meaningful way, but are met with many barriers including language difficulties, racism and complicated new systems to understand.”
Often the resettled families have close relatives in immediate danger back in their homeland.
“There are regular stories of sexual violence and also other violence,” said Sally. “This is particularly true of Kurdish families whose relatives are being persecuted by Turkey, by Iraq and often also by the Syrian authorities.”
Aswad, 32, is from Syria. He was born there and his family have farmed land there for generations.
Prior to his forced departure in 2013 he had been studying accountancy.
Leaving his own country was heartbreaking. However, the fighting that was happening there was dangerous and very unsettling.
He described some of the incidents which helped to tip the decision for him: “For so long everyone just lived side by side. One of our tractors was stolen,” he said.
“This was really important for us to grow the food to sell and survive. Then they stole our grain supplies, taking the seed that we needed for the next harvest.
“Things got so bad that there was no electricity and getting hold of basic goods was very difficult.”
Aswad moved initially to Iraq where he described the conditions as better but still tough. The culture and environment was very different. He didn’t have much money. On top of that he had no family connections there.
In 2015 he got married and a year later they had a child. Things continued to be tough, but they managed. When the child was 18 months old, they discovered that she had a dangerous and complex condition which would be very difficult to treat in Iraq.
At this point someone suggested that they contact the United Nations and try to register their little girl as needing help.
He was amazed to be called for an interview and within six months they were moved to the UK. This transfer happened under the Home Office’s Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS).
This was the background to Aswad coming to Bath. Bath and North East Somerset Council takes part in the Home Office refugee resettlement schemes and commissions Julian House to support VPRS clients in the area.
Another local charity, Bath Welcomes Refugees, supports Julian House and local refugees by befriending them and offering English language lessons and support.
Even though the move to the UK was essential to the health of their child, leaving the Middle East and their roots was another massive upheaval in their lives.
Aswad is full of praise for the Julian House staff for the work they have done to help his family settle.
“We are proud people and are used to trying to look after ourselves but coping with the paperwork would have been really tough without help from Julian House,” he said.
There is one transport advantage to being resettled by Julian House rather than by another organisation: the charity owns bike workshops and one of the best bike shops in Bath. “We give a bike to every family member that we settle,” glows Sally, proudly.
Also getting English lessons and understanding the culture in the UK can be a challenge.
Many of the adults, who all persist in learning English, have not been in a classroom environment for a very long time, but know that language is key to building relationships and being part of the community.
“We overhear the adults and the children disagreeing about different ways to say things in English,” said Sally.
One other difference that he comments on is the lack of corruption in the UK.
Whereas back in Syria so many ordinary services and purchases were reliant on a type of bribe called a ‘rashwa.’
Aswad is currently working in the hospitality sector, all the while improving his English.
Very soon he hopes to take an NVQ Level 2 course in pharmacy, something that he had previous experience of doing back in Syria.
At the moment, his family has ‘leave to remain’ in the UK for five years.
After this they will apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually, if they choose to, for British citizenship. They now have a British born son who is doing well.
In the course of the last four years’ contract with B&NES, Julian House with Bath Welcomes Refugees’ help has welcomed 13 families.
But over the last year of the pandemic, only one new family has arrived.
Julian House is ready to resettle more people, but Covid has hampered this.
In the future, Sally says Julian House would like to be able to resettle families from more diverse backgrounds.
“We’d love to be taking families from other areas of the world where there is forced displacement,” she said. “These individuals bring so much to our community. We are lucky to have them here contributing their culture, skills, warmth and perspective.”