Behind the Numbers
Sarah Siddle | Sophie Stephen | Lucy Samson
In March 2011, an uprising began in Syria as a response to President Bashar
al-Assad’s regime. When his people began to protest, the President responded with violence.
By the summer of 2011, thousands of members of the Syrian armed forces had broken away from the military to fight back against the government.
Civil war broke out, and a humanitarian crisis began.
The UNHCR estimate that over 5.6m people have fled Syria since 2011. Millions more are at risk, and displaced in their home country.
Since 2014, around 14,000 Syrians have been resettled in the UK under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.
Over 2,500 of them have now settled in Scotland.
The Journey Home
Fadel Helmi, 42, arrived in Scotland on the 13th of October 2016, and since then he has opened his own take-away restaurant on the Isle of Bute selling traditional Syrian cuisine to residents and tourists. Despite his home being destroyed, and being forced to flee Syria, Fadel is now looking forward to bringing up his young children in Scotland.
“My family left Syria because of the war.
“Our business and our houses were destroyed, we had no place to live. So we had to move to a safe place, and Jordan was very close to Syria. It was very easy then to move and we had a relative there, so we moved to Jordan.
“We had to travel ourselves, we actually did this two ways. My wife and my kids came themselves, they left by car and then I followed them a month later because I came into some problems. So, I walked to Jordan.
“We stayed in Jordan for four years. I left Syria and moved to Jordan and then came to Scotland on the 13th of October 2016.
“It was very difficult to leave everything behind, every memory, everything we had in my country is now gone.
“I brought from Syria some important papers, but no photos, nothing else because we moved to Jordan very quickly so…. We didn’t have any time to collect anything.
“We started a new life here and we’re happy.
I would never want to leave Scotland again, we are very happy here.
Fadel Helmi
“We came over here because the United Nations were taking refugee families from refugee countries and taking them here to be resettled.
“I came here with my family, I have four children. When I came I had my wife and three children, and our fourth child was born here on the island a month after we came. My wife was pregnant when we got here.
“When I came here everything was sorted, the house, the children in school, everything. So I found everything here very easy, because everything was sorted there was no need to think about anything.
“I opened my business 9 months ago. I found the space advertised for rent on Facebook, so I contacted the owner and I took the shop over that way.
“It’s popular with the local people but not too much because they are used to fish and chips and other things, not Syrian food. But all the people who come from the mainland, and they know what Syrian food is, they come directly here.
“I’m very happy now, and the children are very happy and they like the school here.
“I spoke English before I came here, but after arriving I had five months to study English.
“I found the Scottish accent difficult, especially some of the workers on Bute. Some of them speak slowly and more clearly talking to you though, and some of them speak Arabic now.
“They come in and say hello in Arabic and how are you in Arabic, and 'As-Salaam-Alaikum' (peace be unto you). I think they are interested in learning our language now that we are here.
“The people here are very friendly and they are very welcoming to us. I would never want to leave Scotland again, we are very happy here.
“When we came here nearly three years ago, I was wondering whether or not this place would be good for my family, good for the kids but maybe after one month or two months I found it very good, and better than where I was before.”
The Welcome Model
The Helmi’s were living among 20 resettled Syrian families on the Isle of Bute, where the population is 6,498, but many Syrian refugees have moved to Scotland’s larger towns and cities.
Chris Daniel is a media and communications officer at the Scottish Refugee Council, he attributes the success of the resettlement programme in Scotland to the small size of the country, rather than the UK-wide systems set in place.
He says: “I’d hesitate to say that Scotland were better at resettling migrants through any sort of procedures that are in place because we’re not.
“It’s the exact same system, but I think there's a general feeling of slightly more hope in Scotland than there is elsewhere.”
Chris has worked at the Scottish Refugee Council since November 2018, but prior to that he was working in a kitchen in a refugee camp in Calais, France.
Chris believes his experience has allowed him to gain a wider understanding of the challenges faced by refugees settling in Scotland and the UK.
“When I compare working in Scotland to friends and colleagues that work down South in various organisations, generally I think in Scotland the political rhetoric lends itself to being a bit more positive towards refugees.”
Despite the success of Scotland as a small country, Chris thinks that integration within Scotland is easier in larger cities than in towns.
“There’s basically more to do for people in cities, it would probably be the same for anyone compared to being in a smaller place.”
"I think there's a general feeling of slightly more hope in Scotland."
Smaller communities are more squeezed for resources and people to help out than larger cities with a bigger population and more funding.
“I would say that refugees settled in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee probably get more involved in the community, although there are really great small community groups and councils all over Scotland doing really good work.
“There are just more services around so I guess it’s just different.
“Glasgow’s got a lot of organisations which support refugees, all of them are really good at their little niche thing that they do, whereas obviously a smaller community probably only has one group that are doing all of those things.”
“But I think the big cities are the most visible in terms of people doing really positive stuff.”
Despite more funding in cities, Chris thinks there is a downside to resettling refugees in larger areas.
Larger populations and higher rents means living situations can often be better in smaller towns where there is more space and less people.
He says: “I think it can feel more welcoming for people resettled in cities, however when it comes to their actual living environments they are often put into the most deprived and densely populated areas."
Although Syrian refugees have been welcomed by the majority of Scots, there have also been incidents where they have fallen victim to racial abuse.
Chris explains: “It's not always easy, we hear about people who are in situations where locals are being racist but I would say that generally, especially for Syrian resettlement, it is a relatively positive experience.”
Overall, Chris believes the settlement of Syrian Refugees in Scotland has been a great success.
The Highlands Support Refugees
In Britain, councils are provided with funding from the UK Government to help resettle refugees into their new communities. But in many places in Scotland, authorities have been supported by local residents in making refugees feel at home.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Sutherland
Upon arriving in Scotland, caseworkers are on hand to ensure that the incoming refugees have access to healthcare, English-language classes, education, financial assistance and employment opportunities, but often it is local people who come together to help make refugees feel truly at home.
In Inverness, Hannah Sutherland helps run support charity 'The Highlands Support Refugees' in Inverness and the Highlands.
Hannah said: “I just turned up to help sort clothes one day, to send clothes to Calais and that was about three years ago when that horrible newspaper article about the little drowned boy, Alan Kurdi, came about and I think that kind of galvanized a lot of people into action.
"I think a lot of people wanted to do something but they didn’t know quite what to do to help.”
A friend of Hannah’s put up a post on Facebook explaining that she would be driving her van to Calais and if anybody had any items they wanted to donate for her to take then to let her know.
That post got shared over 100 times and she suddenly realised that there was a massive desire in the Highlands to help and she started putting things in place to facilitate that which is how the organisation came about.
The group was approached by the council when the first lot of Syrian refugee families were resettled up in the Highlands and asked if they would be able to help provide household items.
While the council provide the house and big furniture items such as a bed, sofa and fridge, the charity then has a list of items they buy new to provide for each household too, such as: clothes, toiletries, cleaning supplies and smaller items that make the house a home.
“All of the little bits and pieces, none of that would be provided if that wasn’t for us.”
Photo Courtesy of Hannah Sutherland
"I think a lot of people wanted to do something but they didn't know quite what to do to help."
Hannah explains that when the first families arrived, the men had always been used to being the providers and were left unable to do so whilst on benefits and needing to attend classes to improve their English before being able to get jobs. It was then suggested that they could go to the charity’s depot for a shift to help sort out the donations and containers of aid to be sent.
“That has worked out really wonderful because they are always massively enthusiastic to help a hand in any way. They are in a safe environment… they know they’re going to be around people who aren’t anti-refugees or anti-foreigners and also we can work on their English in a fairly easy way.
“I think it helps increase their confidence and also probably alleviate any guilt that they have about being chosen to come to the UK. I’m sure they all have friends and family that aren’t safe and looked after so I think it helps them to send stuff out to camps where some of them could potentially be.”
Two years ago, Hannah and her fellow volunteers heard about sets of families being resettled around Scotland but in much more rural areas , such as Oban, the Western Isles and Orkney. They decided to arrange a weekend gathering in Inverness where there would be households of people they knew and trusted to host each Syrian family in their homes.
“It turned into a pretty massive affair and they had the best time! There was a gathering at the mosque, and we hired out a church hall and played Arabic music and had loads of food and there were games for the kids. Then the next day the mums and the younger kids came with us to a soft play and all of the dads went bowling with the older kids.”
“It worked exactly how we hoped it would work because a few months later my friend was on a ferry to the Western Isles and she bumped into some of the locals and they were off to go fishing with some of the Western Isles families that they’d made friends with!”
Photos Courtesy of Hannah Sutherland
Photos Courtesy of Hannah Sutherland
This has now become a yearly event. The Highlands Support Refugees hosted their second meet up last summer, and they will soon be planning the third meet up for summer 2019 and look forward to welcoming more Syrian people into the already established community.
There are various other funded projects and systems in place to support the refugees as much as possible, from Birchwood Highland Charity and Highland Migrant and Refugee Advocacy (HiMRA) which helped to set up the conversation cafes to help improve people's English to there being a specific refugee resettlement officer who works for the Highland Council.
A New Venture
Tasnim Helmi, 25, arrived in Scotland in 2015.
Tasnim and Fadel are cousins, with both of their families having successfully been relocated to the Isle of Bute after fleeing a war-torn Syria.
Tasnim's family opened a patisserie called ‘Helmi’s’ on the Scottish island in 2018. Today, she prefers to concentrate on the family business, rather than the story that led them to opening it.
“We do everything from scratch here, my husband, Mohamed, is the baker. He and my Dad started the cafe.
Tasmin said: “It’s a family business, my husband is working here, my mum is working here also, me, my brothers.
Bashar Helmi and his son-in-law Mohamed Helmi opened Helmi’s Patisserie in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute in June 2018, just over two years after they arrived in Scotland.
The menu at Helmi’s boasts a range of baked goods alongside a ‘Syrian Breakfast’.
The bakery has since been shortlisted for a Scottish Baker of the Year 2019/20 prize.
“My husband used to bake in Syria, he is a baker of more than 15 years and we found here that there is no kind of patisserie on Bute and we live here now, so he thought of opening a bakery.
“It’s a new cafe. We started in the middle of June last year. I’m working here from that time.
When the cafe first opened in 2016 the family sold out of their goods within 2 hours thanks to the support of the local community.
“When we opened the opening day was great there was queues of people outside. And we had a good summer, and we hope for another one. The recent bank holiday weekend was great, it was so busy, the island was so busy.
The Helmi family prepare all of their food freshly and
in-house.
“We bake in the morning. My mum, Rania, she does the rolls and the fillings. I do counter staff, and I do all the communication. I call myself sometimes the general
co-ordinator.
“My English is good, my brothers English is good too.
“I have four brothers, two of them work here in the kitchen. We are five, I’m the only girl.
“I have one brother who works just the weekends, and another brother who is studying at Dundee University so he is away.
“It’s been good, the local people here are so nice and friendly and also supportive. So it’s good.
“We are happy here.”
