Making Home Away

So I sat them down and told them: the five of us are here, me, you and your father, wherever the five of us are, that place should be your heaven.
Discover their stories

Saifeldeen

Current 'Home' West Midlands, UK

 


Despite the difficulty navigating new cultures, this is a story of trying to make a new life work. As Saifeldeen explains:

“Everyone [here in the UK] is just focusing on his life. There is nothing bonding them together. No one is having a relationship with his neighbour for instance. You should rely on yourself in solving all your problems, without getting help from anyone else”.

 

“The first thing that reminds me of home is the photos we had in Syria. The second thing is wedding parties, when there is a party if in Syria, UK, or wherever I ask my friends or family to open a live video for me. Because wedding parties have special traditions that remind me of home; they are always special”.

 

*** Interviews carried out by Doha Samir

VICKI SQUIRE

This extract is from an interview conducted by VICKI SQUIRE during 2020 as part of the British Academy funded ‘Lost and Found: A Digital Archive of Migration, Displacement and Resettlement’  project’s Making Home Away archive.

 

Houda

Current 'Home'
West Midlands, UK

Nour

Current 'Home'
West Midlands, UK