The ‘Work & Learn’ team are currently involved in a project to help Syrian refugees settle in Cumbria and beyond. Today we caught up with two brothers – Mohammed and Wael.
They are both from the Syrian capital, Damascus and not used to market town life so there’s quite a lot to take in. They have been given a placement as volunteers at Oxfam.
Back home in war torn Syria they used to run a highly successful tailoring/fashion design business specialising in wedding clothes. They sold these across Syria and had a big export market to Egypt. They will assist with the retail sales online as they have lots of experience doing this.
We will update you on their progress -and other refugees R2W are assisting, in the coming weeks.
Rob Ford from ‘Work & Learn’ says: “They have been attending classes to improve their English, and are now going to start volunteering at their local Oxfam shop. They ran their own clothing enterprise in Syria, and their ambition is to set up their own business again. We are supporting them to get engaged with everyday working life and help with any vocational & life skills. This will go some way into making sure they feel more settled in England.”
What Rob hasn’t told you -they didn’t speak any English before they came, but are now pretty good thanks to R2W intervention -so much so they were able to declare their support for England tonight in the Euros – now that’s a result!