Quite a lot like “American Refuge” which I read recently, after a short history of the situation in this case Syrian refugees have faced, this book takes the experiences of refugees and describes their life in their country before needing to flee, their decision to leave, the path they took and then their experiences settling in their new country. In this case, all of the participants are from Syria, the book forming part of a project specifically working with this group, although many of them mention people from other places, too.

The experiences the participants had of managing to leave range from having an arrangement through the UN to be moved out for their healthy and safety to trying multiple times with human traffickers to get across to the UK through whatever means possible. All, however, involved the wrench of leaving, worry about those left behind, trying to reunite with family members spread across Europe and the feeling of a loss of community when they arrived … but also the good experiences they had with kind people, particularly in Wales. The stories were of course both moving and upsetting; we need to read these stories to understand what people go through.

Many of the participants give very good advice on how things could be made easier for those coming after them, both in terms of what people coming from Syria should expect, what the authorities could do to make it smoother and what communities could do to welcome people. There are varying opinions on integration and what it means, of course, and I was glad people seemed to be able to speak freely, explaining for example that they want to retain their own heritage for their children as well as living and working in the UK.

Some stories brought a tear to my eye, as they should: one refugee ate a tin of peanut butter from the cargo of the lorry he stowed away in and left a few euros to pay for it; women felt that Welsh people welcoming them with a smile was like their friends back home but was scared to talk to them because she felt her English wasn’t good enough; and one participant opened his section about living in Wales with a paragraph in the Welsh he’d learned alongside English.

A really interesting account of refugees in Wales from their travels to the UK to becoming part of communities.

Highly recommended - I think a lot of people who have misconceptions re the challenges faced by people seek8ng asylum should give it a read.