Syrian refugee thanks county's residents for his 'Worcestershire welcome' - The Malvern Observer

Syrian refugee thanks county's residents for his 'Worcestershire welcome'

Malvern Editorial 26th Aug, 2019   0

A SYRIAN refugee has thanked the people of Worcestershire for helping her family find peace and happiness.

Amani is one of 100 Syrian refugees to have been offered a new start in the county under the government’s Syrian Resettlement Programme.

Speaking about her experiences, she said: “I came from a devastated and wounded country carrying in my memory a lot of pain and fear.

“When I arrived in the UK, I was happy, but I quickly felt lonely.




“I was surprised at everything – my life, my house, the language, my boys and their schools.

“It is hard to change your life, but I felt I changed it to the best. It is strange to feel lonely and miss your family.


“In that time, I didn’t make friends because I didn’t speak English well.”

She added: “In the first year, Refugee Action helped us to deal with our issues then we become better after we started learning English and got involved with English community.

“Today, I can speak English, I work in a good job, my boys are doing well in school, my husband has got a job.

“We found stability and we passed all the difficulties to start our life again in safety and a peaceful country.

“I would like to thank Worcestershire County Council because they supported us until we settled and they still work hard to help us and all the refugees to get a good living in the UK.”

The Syrian Resettlement Programme is a five-year government programme that pledged to resettle 20,000 refugees in in the UK by 2020.

Leaders of Worcestershire County, Bromsgrove District, Malvern Hills District, Redditch Borough, Worcester City, Wychavon District and Wyre Forest District Councils pledged to resettle up to 100 refugees in total since 2016 and with the latest family, who arrived earlier this month, have now fulfilled that commitment.

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