Houda
Houda describes what she misses and what she finds having moved to the UK:
“[I miss] my relationship with my Mum and my sisters who are still living in Syria. And the most important thing is my son’s grave. It is in Syria… [about to cry] In Syria, I left the most precious thing I have. I left my son’s body. If I get the chance to go back, I will visit his grave”.
“At the beginning, when we arrived [to the UK], I was afraid of the neighbours. How are they going to perceive or treat me? My next door neighbour was not trying to say hello to me at the first days, she was afraid of me I believe”.
“After two or three weeks, she [my neighbour] became friendly, and her son is playing daily with my daughter. There is no racism in the neighbourhood where I live; people are not staring at me when I am going out. I feel normal. My daughter is in a school that has no Arabs at all, though the teachers are treating her very well”.
*** Interviews carried out by Doha Samir
