Students share moving stories in assembly for Refugee Week

A Year 8s Story

My name is Jamal. I am from Damascus in Syria and this is my story. I had to leave Syria because there was war in my country. There were bombs and jets all the time. It wasn’t safe anymore so we had to leave. We couldn’t take anything with us. Before coming to the UK I lived in Turkey for two years.

In Turkey life was hard. We had nothing and I couldn’t go to school. Instead I had to work. I worked in different factories, making shoes and clothes or cutting wood. It wasn’t good and the hours were long, I worked all day most days. I had to do so that me and my family could eat and have a place to live. Sometimes on a Saturday when I didn’t have to work I would go to the school and listen to the teachers, not in the school but from the outside looking in through the window.

In Turkey we finally got papers to travel to England where we were reunited with my father. I was so happy. Travelling to England was exciting, it was only my second time on a plane. When we arrived we drove past Big Ben and the London Eye. It was amazing!

Leaving Syria I lost my home, friends and some of my family. It is very hard. Life for me now is good, but I still get sad sometimes thinking of the children working in Turkey and I miss Syria. I am so happy that all my family are together now. I missed a lot of school because of the war, so I have a lot to catch up on. And I had to learn English.

It is my dream to tell my story and for other children not to have to work in factories. It is not good and not right. There were lots of children working there and most were not from Turkey but other countries. It is my dream to help the children in Turkey so that they don’t have to work anymore and can go to school. If I become a rich man I will help poor people.

Thank you for listening to my story and I hope you learnt a little bit about refugees today.