Sima’s family left Afghanistan long before she was born, settling first in Pakistan and later in Iran. In Pakistan, life felt closer to normal, but in Iran, being a refugee came with many unforgiving restrictions: she was barred from having an education and even having a voice to speak up in society. 

When her family returned to Afghanistan, things began to open up. She went to school, studied English and maths, obtaining a bachelor's degree, and started to imagine a different kind of life. Her father found a job that was stable, and for a time it felt as though they would be finally building something secure for themselves. She began working with international organisations too, and there was a sense of pride in what she was contributing.

That sense of stability disappeared almost overnight in 2021. When the Taliban took control, fear spread quickly. The city emptied, workplaces shut down, and people rushed home, unsure of what would happen next. As a Hazara woman, Sima knew the risks were serious. Staying meant living in constant danger, so she made the decision to leave.

With her children beside her, she went to the airport carrying only the essentials. Because there were thousands of others, they were forced to wait there for days and nights, sleeping on the "rock-solid" ground, with little food or water. It was exhausting, but the thought of getting herself and her children to a safe haven was her driving motivation. 

Upon finally arriving in the UK, she was still forced to keep moving between places and the future was never certain. However, with support and over time, things began to change for her and her children. She found people who helped her settle, and from the start, she began helping others too. Today, she is working studying, volunteering and is a member of the HWR Advisory Group, which involves speaking up for refugees and sharing what she has learned. 

Sima wants to keep moving forward, hoping to study more, find stability, get her driving licence, and one day start her own business. She ended by saying that her greatest wish is a life where she and her children can feel stable, safe, and able to plan for the future. 

Amina is originally from Afghanistan and arrived in the UK two years ago. Life in her home country had once been stable, however everything changed when the Taliban returned to power. Her husband had been working for the military, which made the situation increasingly dangerous for their family. Shortly after the Taliban took control, he tragically passed away. His passing forced Amina and her children to flee their home in search of a safe place to live.

Arriving in the UK was a significant turning point in Amina’s life. She travelled while pregnant, uncertain and fearful about what her future might be. At the same time, her children were grieving the loss of their father, and she found it difficult to answer their questions while processing the loss herself. Adjusting to a new country, language, and culture while grieving was deeply challenging, particularly as she was navigating these changes without the support of her husband.

Life has gradually become more stable, though the trauma of her husband’s death continues to affect her. She has received medical support for night terrors she experienced due to her husband's death, which has helped her begin to cope with her experiences. Despite these challenges, she is grateful that her children are now safe and able to attend school. Additionally, speaking a new language and adjusting to a different life in a new country has taken time, but she continues to make steady progress.

Amina first connected with Herts Welcomes Refugees through her caseworker, who introduced her to the charity. Their support has helped her family rebuild their lives, including assisting her family with visas, providing English lessons, and helping her find schools for her children. When she first arrived she spoke almost no English, however, the lessons she has received has helped her become more independent while living in the UK.
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Today, Amina’s main focus is caring for her five children as she is determined to support them through their education and give them the stability they deserve. Although she misses her family in Afghanistan deeply, the loss she feels most profoundly is that of her husband. Despite this painful loss, she continues to focus on building a safer and more hopeful future for her children.

Ahmad had never thought of migrating from Afghanistan. He was married and had children, lived near his family and had a job as a senior manager in the government; in fact, he had even forgone several opportunities to migrate that came in conjunction with his work with the UN and IMF. Despite the persistent threat from the Taliban, he chose to stay in the familiar environment of his home country.
 
However, everything changed when the Taliban surrounded Kabul and took the city. He recalls in vivid detail how employees in his building, which was situated close to other key government buildings, forced their way past security guards and fled into the chaos of the city. He himself ran for over an hour and a half to reach home, having heard on the phone that his mother had become severely distressed, to the point of falling unconscious. When he arrived, he gratefully embraced his mother but knew at that moment that he had to make the difficult decision to leave the country. He first crossed into Iran, but the Taliban continued to threaten him over WhatsApp while also blocking his bank account. Furthermore, the close ties between the Iranian government and the Taliban meant that he had to move on once more to seek out true safety. It was at this point that he was granted a student visa to the UK, which allowed him to come to the country legally before seeking asylum, rather than having to pay a smuggler to take him across the continent through perilous routes.
 
Upon arriving in the UK, Ahmad immediately felt welcomed, and despite the many cultural differences, he greatly appreciated the safety of the country. Although there were points during the anti-refugee protests in 2025 where he and his wife were stressed, he noted that, on the whole, people were welcoming and eager to help him settle in. His relationship with HWR began when he was placed in contact with a volunteer who helped him to begin working once a week at the drop-in sessions, where he helps other refugees and asylum seekers to learn English, his knowledge of 5-6 languages helping him to establish connections with refugees from a wide variety of backgrounds. Ahmad greatly enjoyed the sense of purpose that this gave him, noting that he now feels like 'a small part of a big community'.
 
Ahmad believes that it is crucial for charities like HWR to continue their work, as they have a critical role in allowing asylum seekers who can't speak English to integrate into the community. He notes that learning a language is not just a means of communication; it is a gateway into society, helping people to grasp key components of the UK's culture, such as humour. This allows refugees to make friends, feel confident and avoid the cycle of isolation and mental health issues that many experience.
 
Ahmad is hopeful for the future even though he misses his family deeply, especially his mother, who passed away six months after he arrived in the UK. After completing his second master's degree, he wants to obtain an English certification and work in a field related to his area of expertise, which is banking and finance. Combined with his volunteer work, he is eager to start over in the UK and looks forward to using his education and experience to benefit society.

Mustafa had faced difficulties since his childhood. He did not grow up with his mother, and he faced the constant difficulties of navigating life in Sudan, where his human rights and religious freedoms weren't respected. Finally, he made the difficult decision to leave behind his father, siblings and wife in order to look for a more secure life for himself. He first moved to Libya, from where he made the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, arriving in Italy. He then crossed continental Europe and eventually arrived in the UK in June of 2022.
 
Upon arriving in the UK, he immediately faced the difficulties in adapting to a new environment. The weather was extremely different, but the greatest difficulty he faced was the language barrier; Mustafa had never learnt English in Sudan, and thus navigating the complicated application process to seek asylum was difficult. However, he persevered and was helped immensely by HWR, who he came into contact with at the drop-in centre held in a local church. He attended college and the charity's drop-in sessions to improve his English, and he noted how helpful the charity was in providing spaces for refugees to ask questions without fear of judgement. He now volunteers for the charity, welcoming new refugees and trying to help them in their adjustment to the UK.
 
Despite the many difficulties he faced, Mustafa called the UK the 'greatest community in the world'. He is immensely grateful for the religious freedom and tolerance of human rights that were absent in Sudan, and he praised the way in which organisations, such as HWR, welcomed and accepted refugees regardless of their individual circumstances. He has enjoyed integrating into his community but noted that many refugees aren't as open to doing so, as they don't realise that they can join their communities without judgement and that doing so is the best way to build their lives back up.
 
Although Mustafa sorely misses his family in Sudan, he is determined to make the most of the opportunities that he has been given in the UK. He is currently working as a delivery driver while searching for formal work and is also looking for more opportunities to improve his English. He also wants to attend higher education to learn more about human rights and their application so that he can make better sense of the situation in his home country of Sudan. Coming into his fourth year in the country, Mustafa is hopeful about the future and excited to further establish his life in the UK.

Originally from Sudan, Hawa had been living in one of the Gulf countries since the age of 23 with her husband, who worked in the country. Although their lives were comfortable, it was underscored by a constant uncertainty regarding their status. Despite having lived in the Gulf country for many years, they were not granted citizenship and thus were under threat of spontaneous deportation back to Sudan. Her fears were compounded by the prospect that if she did return to Sudan, her daughters may be subject to female genital mutilation and forced early marriages, practices which are unfortunately still widespread in the country. This nightmare became a reality in December of 2022 when her husband was made redundant from his job, and, unable to return to war-torn Sudan, Hawa and her children fled to the UK, where they claimed asylum. Despite the traumatic circumstances, after arriving in England, she immediately felt a sense of belonging in her friendly community, and the knowledge that her life would not be unexpectedly uprooted was a great comfort to her. Although she still sorely misses her parents, the arrival of her husband a year ago has helped her to further settle in.
 
HWR regularly visits hotels housing asylum seekers, and it was on one of these visits, following advice by a friend, that Hawa first came into contact with the charity. They were vital in helping her through the early days of her arrival, translating key documents and informing her of meetings or interviews that she was required to attend. Hawa was eager to give back, and now she spends every Tuesday cooking for the local community in conjunction with the charity's work. She also helps many newly arrived refugees settle in and overcome the social and psychological challenges that she herself faced.
 
Hawa has five children ranging from ages 16 to 3. At the moment, her focus is on helping them work diligently and succeed in school. All of them love their schools here and the way that they learn, and this has been reflected in their outstanding achievements: Hawa's oldest daughter has completed several of her GCSEs, achieving a grade 9 in all of them. Once her youngest reaches the age where they can also begin to attend school, Hawa is determined to continue pursuing her education. She wishes to continue to develop her English and achieve an official certification before attending university to further study health and social care (having already graduated university in Sudan). Despite facing the challenges of both raising children and fleeing her country, Hawa has managed to persevere, and she is now focused on developing her own skills to help give back to her community.

​Sara was born in Iran and arrived in the UK in September 2023. Despite Iran’s rich historical and cultural heritage, her life there became increasingly unsafe due to her Christian faith and the lack of religious freedom under the current government. Initially, her parents believed she could pursue her education abroad while still returning to Iran for holidays, however, by 2024 they recognised that it was no longer safe for her to live there or even visit. As a result, Sara remained in the UK to continue her studies and build a future that would not have been possible in Iran. 
 
Sara has had to adapt rapidly to significant changes in her life. After completing her GCSEs in the UK, she is now in Year 13 studying for her A-levels, having previously navigated the asylum process alongside her education. This period was particularly demanding, as she balanced the uncertainty of a pending Home Office interview with the pressures of predicted grades, university admissions tests, and repeated moves between cities, hotels, and schools. During this time, support from HWR, particularly with essential items when she changed schools and guidance throughout her asylum claim, helped her stay focused despite the uncertainty she was facing. 
 
In spite of these challenges, Sara has remained highly motivated academically. She has applied to four dentistry courses and one pharmacy course at university, has already received an offer in pharmacy, and is awaiting responses from the dentistry programmes. Her long-standing interest in dentistry, supported by how enjoyable her work experience was in the field, has helped her persevere with her academic work during periods of stress and low motivation. Outside her studies, she plays the guitar and piano, which she uses as a way to manage stress and maintain a balance. As Farsi is her first language, Sara continues to work hard to improve her English and hopes to find part-time work while at university to help support her mother with living expenses. 
 
Sara deeply misses her family and friends in Iran, particularly her father and other relatives whom she has not seen for three years, as well as the opportunity to travel across the country and visit its historical sites. She notes that Iranian identity is often misunderstood globally, as media coverage tends to focus on the actions of the current government. Finally, she stresses that the government does not represent the Iranian people or their culture, and that many refugees are forced to leave their home countries due to political and religious circumstances beyond their control. 

Kian's life in Iran was disrupted when the police discovered that he had been practising Christianity in a home church rather than practising the state religion of Shia Islam, and thus he was forced to flee the country as he began to fear for his life. After being smuggled into Turkey, he then travelled onwards to the UK, where he arrived in July of 2025. The first thing he noticed was the kindness of the police force; he had been used to being treated badly without just cause by the police in Iran, and so the genuine willingness to help shown by police in the UK came as a welcome surprise. He first made contact with Herts Welcomes Refugees through representatives of the charity who came to his hotel to give English lessons and advice on daily matters: without this help, he said that accomplishing basic tasks would be ten times harder due to the sheer volume of forms and documents that one is required to fill.
 
One of the key difficulties that Kian encountered following the approval of his asylum claim was opening a bank account. Many banks did not accept the refugee hotel as a valid address, and only after visiting five separate banks was he able to find one that let him open an account. Kian admitted that without the encouragement of charity representatives, he would have become demotivated, and he mentioned this as a common trend among refugees. Living in the migrant hotel in uncertainty (in the time between your interview with the Home Office and a decision being made on your asylum claim) can sap one's energy, and with the difficulty of everyday life in a new country, many migrants struggle to accomplish basic tasks and become depressed. Kian also foresees that adjusting to driving on the left will be difficult.
 
Kian is determined to continue to improve his English so that he can obtain the English certificate that is required for him to find work. He wishes to join a plumbing course to become a qualified plumber (a job which he had in Iran) and to work as a mechanic fixing motorbikes, a hobby he frequently enjoyed back home; you can see him and his little dog in the photograph.  Kian adds: "This image reminds us that in some countries, both free-thinking humans and animals are sometimes deprived of the right to live."

​Khaled reached the UK in September 2023 after years of living in Turkey as a refugee from the war in his home country, Syria. He had initially refused to leave Syria, but control of the country eventually shifted to warlords and armed groups, and so the constant threat against his life, made real through the bombing and destruction of his home and nearly killing him, finally meant that he had no choice but to flee. Even then, safety remained uncertain. In Turkey, with no real protections for refugees, there was still an element of uncertainty as deportation was always a possibility. He worked when he could, tried to support himself, and lived under the fear that at any moment everything could be taken away. In time, the environment worsened: refugees were attacked and even killed in some cases as the government’s stance became more and more opposed. At that point, he knew he could no longer stay.
 
Khaled considered leaving Turkey many times. He heard stories of smugglers and exploitation, of people dying on journeys in search of safety, and decided that staying put was the lesser risk. Instead, he applied for postgraduate study abroad. A scholarship brought him to the UK, and at first he believed he would return to Turkey, where he had friends and a fragile sense of stability, but that option closed suddenly when his passport expired and the Syrian authorities refused to issue a passport in Syria as there was no embassy in the UK, along with threatening his friends who tried to help him. With no way back and no safe future in Syria due to the unchanged risks that caused him to flee in the first place and also due to his religious beliefs, he sought legal advice and applied for asylum as a student.
 
In the UK, Khaled feels relieved but also frustrated. He values the strong presence of the rule of law and democracy with systems where rights are protected and power is accountable, and the consistency between what is promised and what is delivered by the government. To him, safety matters most; he has found it in the UK. Yet he has applied for over 300 jobs and feels invisible, average in the labour market where he once stood out. He came into contact with Herts Welcomes Refugees through a homelessness application and was given a bare room with an air mattress, a blanket and a pillow – small things that still meant shelter. He believes refugees must be supported before they reach the streets, in their own languages, because once you fall through the gaps, climbing back is much harder.
 

Layla arrived in the UK in February of 2025 after her life in Saudi Arabia was unexpectedly uprooted. After her father (originally from Sudan) was made redundant from his job following 25 years in Saudi Arabia, Layla’s entire family had their visas cancelled. Layla, who was in the UK at the time (on a holiday trip to celebrate her achieving her master’s degree in bioengineering), was stranded and, faced with having to return to war-torn Sudan, had no choice but to claim asylum.
 
Her primary concern upon claiming asylum was how she would be received; worrying about being not welcomed because of what she heard on the news about asylum seekers, she expected an estrangement in the UK. However, she was surprised to see that everyone welcomed her warmly; she was not made to feel like a stranger and began immediately to feel a sense of belonging in her community. The UK also had a greater sense of cultural openness, and this helped her to settle in.
 
Layla was connected with HWR through acquaintances in her refugee hotel. HWR not only gave her helpful advice regarding her legal and living situation, but she also began to volunteer for the charity. She works as an interpreter in two languages and in an advisory group where she helps to refine the way in which the charity communicates with refugees. She is also passionate about helping refugees’ voices be heard, and recently, in line with this passion, she gave a radio interview to share her story.
 
Layla is currently looking for a full-time job and wishes to enter the NHS’s ‘Scientist Training Programme’ to begin to work in her speciality in the UK. She wants to continue volunteering even after finding a full-time job in order to help and serve as an example to other refugees to show them that having to seek asylum shouldn’t be the end of their lives and it is not their story. 
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