Refugee Voices - Khaled

​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.