I paid smugglers thousands of pounds to reach asylum in Wales
Aamar Alhalaki had just finished an engineering degree in Damascus when he had to flee or fight for government forces in Syria’s 10-year civil war. Abbie Wightwick reports
ASYRIAN refugee who fled to safety in Wales has told how he feared for his life after paying people smugglers to help him slip through the Turkish border and into the UK on a fake passport,
Aamar Alhalaki was 26 and had just finished an engineering degree in Damascus when the government demanded that he join military service fighting for President Assad’s forces in Syria’s bloody civil war in 2019.
Living in Damascus city centre, Aamar had been reasonably safe, but he had seen bombs wreak devastation on the east of the city and knew people who were killed.
He was 18 when the civil war broke out in 2011 and he had seen his country destroyed by fighting. He did not support the government and did not want to fight for it.
Taking his life in his hands, Aamar took a taxi to a border town near Turkey and made contact with people smugglers to help him escape illegally.
“I travelled first to Aleppo and then on to a small border town near the Turkish border and then we walked across into Turkey. It was illegal and dangerous. The smugglers warned us we could be shot as we walked. That has happened. It was frightening but I felt I had no choice.
“There was a smuggler with us and you take your chance when you pay them that you can trust them. You don’t know.
“When you do military service you must kill or be killed and I did not want to fight. I don’t agree with the war. I took the chance.
“I stayed hidden in Turkey and then another smuggler helped me get to the UK. My journey was not that hard because I took a plane. But if I had had to I would have crossed the Channel on a boat. People have good reason for doing this. They fear for their lives.”
Spared a boat crossing, the wouldbe engineer was given a false passport and boarded a plane to Luton Airport – just a week after leaving Damascus.
Arriving in England, Aamar immediately claimed asylum on the grounds he would be killed if he returned to his home country.
The Home Office sent him to a hostel in London, from where he was quickly sent on to a house-share with other asylum-seekers in Newport.
Just as he was hoping to settle into a new life as his claim for asylum was pending the pandemic hit.
“I arrived in the UK in 2019 and just a few months later the pandemic rocked the world.
“I was stuck in my house and had no contacts, no relationships in the UK. I had to live like that for six months without going out or doing anything that could be of benefit to me or the new society I was living in.”
Aamar missed his family, who are farmers in Daraa, in southern Syria, and his wife, Noor, who he left behind. His youngest brother, meanwhile, made it to Germany as an asylumseeker.
Then, through a friend at the Refugee Council Wales Aamar met University of South Wales (USW) senior lecturer Dr Mike Chick, who in 2019 became USW’s first Refugee Champion as the institution became Wales’ second University of Sanctuary.
“In the meeting in the summer of 2020 Mike mentioned the asylumseeker scholarships. I decided to apply and was given the very welcome support from USW,” Aamar said.
Finally granted refugee status, he has just finished his Master’s and now dreams of an engineering job and permission to bring his wife to join him.
“I am living in Newport in the same house on £35 a week from the Home Office but I want to work,” he said.
“Wales is a very nice place to live and I have not seen anything to make me feel not welcome.
“I can’t go back to my country for now. I don’t think the war will end soon. I can’t go back because I would have to do military service and could be killed for leaving and not doing it.
“I am worried about my family. Last Saturday I woke up to messages that my uncle, who I was very close to, had died. I am working to get my wife to the UK, but I’m not sure how long that is going to take.
“As for the future, I don’t know if I’m going to go into work or do a PhD in my subject. Having just been granted asylum, I’m managing a lot of paperwork, so will decide after that. I really like it here in Wales, so we will see what happens next.”
Describing Syria as a beautiful, historic country he said the war had destroyed lives.
“I left from Aleppo, one of the oldest cities in the world. It is very sad. People are losing their lives in Syria and losing their lives trying to leave.”