When Sara was gravely injured in the bomb blast that destroyed her home in Syria, she and her 9-year-old daughter Mariam had no choice but to flee the country in search of safety.
They arrived in Scotland scared and traumatised with no friends or family to turn to for support. With the help of our Refugee Support Service, Sara and Mariam are slowly rebuilding their lives.
Sara told us: “Everything was so hard when we first arrived in Scotland. We left our home because of the war. My husband and brother were killed. Then our house was bombed and I lost one of my legs. I had my daughter to think of. We had to seek safety.
“At first we felt so worried and scared. I had no idea what to do. We were lost until we got help from Scottish Refugee Council. With the support of our case worker Gustavo, slowly, slowly, step by step we started to feel more safe and secure.
“Now I know where to go for support. I’m not worried or scared anymore. If we need something or want to find something out, we can contact Gustavo. If it’s not something he can do himself, he will refer us someone who can help.”
Sara’s injuries are severe and life changing. She is unable to walk unaided. She has been given a wheelchair but it is designed to be pushed by another person. Mariam is too small to push her mum far, so Sara has to drag herself along using her good leg.
We helped Sara register with a GP and she is now getting the healthcare she needs. She has been fitted with a prosthetic leg and attends weekly physiotherapy sessions where she is learning to walk with the help of her new limb.
When the pair arrived in Scotland, they were moved into a cramped hotel room in central Glasgow with no cooking facilities and no space for Mariam to play. Sara’s mobility issues meant she was unable to take her daughter to the nearest primary school. And Mariam was too young and unfamiliar with busy central Glasgow to walk there on her own. For months, she missed out on education.
Sara told us: “Being in the hotel was hard to deal with. I don’t think anyone could fully understand it until they experience it themselves. It’s like you are being watched every single minute. You feel like you’re in jail. We were not allowed visitors. I had to ask Mariam to push me to the lift so we could go downstairs to get food or go outside to buy things we need. That might not sound so hard for someone else, but because of my mobility issues, it was a very difficult situation for us.
“Mariam didn’t want the food they were offering in the hotel. She asked me to cook for her, which I couldn’t because I had no kitchen. We could just warm things in a microwave downstairs [in the hotel dining area]. When a plate broke, the hotel manager was angry. After that incident we stopped coming down for food.
“It was hard for me to see my daughter go hungry and hard having to ask her to push me outside so I could get her a sandwich. I felt so sad that I couldn’t get the support I needed. Mostly I felt sorry for Mariam because she wanted to be in school, but I couldn’t take her. I didn’t want her to just be with me in the hotel all the time.”
We helped Sara register with a lawyer to advocate on her behalf. With their help, we asked Glasgow City Council to urgently prioritise finding more suitable accommodation for the pair. Eventually, after five months in the hotel, they were moved to a furnished flat in the community.
Sara said: “When we got the flat, we considered ourselves the happiest people ever. It was a safe space for us. For the first time since leaving Syria, it felt like we had a home. We had our own space and our own kitchen. That was a dream for me. I didn’t have to go downstairs to get a meal. If I’m tired or not well, at least I’m in my own house.”
Their new flat is very close to the local primary school, where Marian is settling in well and making lots of new friends.
She told us: “When we were in the hotel I was crying and crying because I couldn’t go to school. When I tried to play, the security guard would come and shout at me. Once I was playing with my toy and I forgot it downstairs. He said, ‘next time I’ll bin it.’
“Then we came to Scottish Refugee Council and Gustavo helped us. Now I go to school, and we have a lovely house. I love my school. My favourite subjects are maths and gymnastics. I’m friends with everyone and my teacher is very nice. This week I was the first one to finish my homework and I got champion of the week! When I’m older I want to be a nurse or a doctor so I can help people.”
Although the flat is a big improvement on the hotel, it is on the first floor and has no lift, which means Sara can’t get her wheelchair down the stairs. She struggles to leave the house and feels very isolated.
As a result of her mobility issues, Sara relies on taxis to go food shopping or attend important meetings with her lawyer. We helped her claim the disability benefits she is entitled to and explained that she can put some of the payments towards an electric wheelchair to help her get around more easily. We have also referred Sara to an organisation that can provide an Arabic speaking carer to support her with daily tasks.
She said: “I didn’t know I had rights because of my disability. Scottish Refugee Council explained it all to me and helped me apply for support. It makes life easier. Before we had a very tough time. Our payments would run out. I used to feel utter humiliation because we didn’t have enough and were in need all the time. Now I don’t feel like we are in need anymore.
“I will never forget the time when we faced the transition from asylum seeker to refugee. Our asylum support stopped but we didn’t have Universal Credit in place. We didn’t have any income at all. Scottish Refugee Council applied for a grant for us. That money helped us to survive.”
Some of Sara and Mariam’s new neighbours have been very welcoming, but they have faced abuse and intimidation from the woman who lives in the flat below them. Sara was so worried about upsetting her neighbour she stopped using her wheelchair. But wearing the prosthetic leg for long periods of time caused sores, which became infected and made her ill.
She explained: “The woman downstairs told us we weren’t allowed to make any noise. She was angry with the sound of my wheelchair. She said we needed to go to bed at 7pm and couldn’t use the vacuum cleaner unless we got her permission.
“I thought because I am a refugee I didn’t have the same rights as people in Scotland and because I was in the wheelchair I was doing something wrong. I started to just use the artificial limb, but I got an infection. It was very painful.”
Things came to a head when the neighbour became aggressive and forced her way into their flat.
Mariam said: “My mum was using her wheelchair, and the lady came up and started shouting ‘I have a baby, you’re making noise.’ Every time my mum used her wheelchair she banged the ceiling with a stick. Then one time she opened our door and came in and started screaming and swearing at me and my mum. She was shouting, ‘F you and F your daughter’. I was very scared.”
Friends who witnessed the incident persuaded Sara to contact the police but the trauma and persecution her family suffered in Syrian has made her distrustful of the authorities.
She told us: “In Syria, we had a very bad experience with the police. They killed my husband and brother. Because of that I was afraid to contact the police in Scotland, but we couldn’t deal with this anymore. After everything we have been through and everything we have overcome, we were in this unsafe situation again. I knew we had no choice.
“When I called Police Scotland, they came the next day and we felt so safe with them. It was so different to the police back home. They took us seriously and they are helping us. We thought it was our fault that the neighbour was angry but the police said we hadn’t done anything wrong and they considered what she had done to be a crime.”
Sara’s neighbour has been prosecuted and the family feels safe again. After the incident, Glasgow City Council offered Sara and Mariam a ground floor flat in a different part of the city. This property would be much easier for Sara to manage, but if they moved, Mariam would have to leave the school she loves. It was a sacrifice Sara couldn’t ask her daughter to make. She had to turn the offer down.
Sara explained: “When we arrived in the UK, Mariam was diagnosed with trauma because of what we’ve been through. She needed a lot of support. Now she is in school and she’s settling in so well. She’s making friends and starting to be happy again. Saying no to the flat was a very hard choice for me. This was a downstairs flat, but if we accepted the offer, Mariam would lose her place in school and all the happiness she is just starting to get back.”
Glasgow City Council is now looking for a ground floor flat in the local area, so Mariam doesn’t have to move schools. And after months of difficulties and delays, the family has been assigned a supportive social worker who is understanding of their needs.
With our help, Sara has registered at college and will soon be starting ESOL (English for Speaker of Other Languages) classes. She’s looking forward to meeting new people and improving her language skills.
She told us: “I feel like I’m in safe hands with Scottish Refugee Council. Anyone who is new to Scotland and is having problems should contact them because they work so hard and are so committed to supporting you.
“I don’t know how to describe my appreciation for our caseworker Gustavo. He is beside us every step of the way. Scotland is home for us now. We feel safe and supported here. I feel very positive about our future.”
