A time for Hope and Joy
PAUL MCLAUGHLIN
The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime in Syria earlier this month was greeted with celebrations across a country fractured by 13 years of civil war. The Assad family had ruled over Syria with an iron fist for over half a century, with long-documented reports of mass incarceration, torture, extra-judicial killings and atrocities against their own people.
Abdul Salam Youssfan and his family
There were celebrations, too in Hastings, where a small group of Syrian refugees who escaped from the conflict now call home.
Abdul Salam Youssfan and his wife, who own the popular Daydream Café on Robertson Street, fled from their home in the bombed-out city of Hama in 2011. Qamar was pregnant with her second child at the time when they made their way by motorcycle to the then safe haven of Lebanon. Yazan was born in Damascus before they continued their escape from their homeland.
When they finally crossed the border into Lebanon, they were homeless, nearly penniless and wearing only the clothes on their backs. They registered with UNICEF as refugees, along with thousands of others, and waited.
After five years, and the birth of their third child, Sulaf, they got a call from the UN Refugee Agency to be told they were going to the UK as part of the Resettlement Programme, set up by the then Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015 to offer a safe haven to 20,000 vulnerable Syrians.
The family travelled to Beirut for medical and background checks by British authorities and after three months of waiting they boarded a plane for the UK, a place they had never even heard of.
They arrived in Britain just before Christmas in 2016. They spoke no English, and the weather was “damp and very cold.” Crucially, however, they felt safe and welcome in their new home, in Herstmonceux. They soon made friends and attended Eastbourne College to learn the language. Abdul Salam volunteered in a charity shop and trained with Mencap as a support worker for people with learning difficulties.
Their family increased again with the birth of daughter Baraah in 2018, and all four children now attend local schools and regard England as home. However, Abdul Salam, who was a successful clothing designer and merchant in Syria, and his wife Qamar, still regard Syria as their home.
Abdul Salam is hopeful for the future of his country, but acknowledges that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the organisation which stormed into Damascus, has a complicated past and offers an unpredictable future. He says whilst he would like to return to Hama to rebuild his clothing business, he feels things are currently too uncertain.
He has not lost his entrepreneurial spirit and earlier this year he turned his hands to running the Daydream Café, which serves a classic breakfast and lunch menu with a distinctly Syrian twist. It has proved to be very popular, offering good food, a cosy atmosphere and staff who are friendly and kind.
Abdul Salam and Qamar say they are “so grateful” to the British people for taking in their family eight years ago. “They gave us hope when we had none. Our children are safe, and they can look forward to a brighter future. This Christmas we want the same for everyone back home in Syria.”
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