Belal Sari

full interview

Well, what kind of housing do you live in? 
Currently living in a flat.

Who do I live with?  
Alone.

How do you spend your time in the UK, do you work? 
I work most of the time.

Would you like to talk about what do you do or what? 
I work as a dentist now, but my job requires me to visit more than one clinic because the job is currently not stable due to the circumstances of the Corona virus and these conditions. If God willing, I want to take a permanent job. 

What are the things you do to make you happy or bring you a sense of happiness? 
My job, communicating with loved ones, family meetings, family gatherings and travelling

Well, how was life the first time you arrived in Europe, what was good and what was difficult. We talk about the first time you arrived? 
I arrived first as a student, things were normal. I mean, it was my first trip to Europe in general, not only to Britain, the world was very strange to me, I used to live in Saudi Arabia before,you know, I mean, the Gulf countries live in increased luxury, for example, there is work and goods, but I mean, their lives are smoother, I mean, one can finish his job by six to five and spend the rest with his friends or family until 12 or 1 am just like Syria but when I arrived here was no such thing. There are restrictions. I found that everything closes at 9. For example, their social life isn’t like the one I was used to. At the same time, I did not focus on this thing in general because at the time I came, I came on the basis of being a student, I was focused, but in studying I wanted to finish studying and go on with my life. 

Well, what was the good side? 
The system, everything is in a system, for example, official transactions in emails, for example, promises, for example, you will be honest. you will not find lies that we see in our Arab countries. Social justice says that freedom of equality between people is not based on racial discrimination or nationality. I don’t tell you that this is not the case here, but much less. I mean, as a refugee, I have the same rights as any British person.

Well, can you describe how you feel about life here? 
I felt personal development and self-building within me, I felt that life is honestly a personal challenge and I see that at the time I first arrived in Britain, I knew that I had a difficult life ahead of me. it’s not gonna be a path furnished with flowers, rather It would be a path full of thorns, full of obstacles and full of barriers, but with persistence and steadfastness, and support from family, friends and loved ones,I was able to rise again and go beyond until I am in this place where I am now.

Can you describe how you feel about being away from your family here in a strange country? have you felt a sense of not belonging or discrimination, has this affected you? 
The impact of the family. Honestly, I was very affected because I was living with my family all the time. I mean, since i was born until the period of university, I was absent from them for five years when i studied dentistry in Syria, my parents were still in Saudi Arabia. However, I used to go to Saudi Arabia for example to visit and see them at the end of every semester and stay with them until I ended the university period in 2012 a year after the Syrian revolution and I went back to my family immediately because I was worried about them. They didn’t want me to go to Syria although I had exams because they were scared. Thank God I flew back the day after I finished my exams because of all the terror and I never went back again.

Have you Imagined that you were able to overcome the difficulties you have overcome and the situations you have talked about ?Also, the second part of the question is how were you able to overcome it, survive it or live with it? 
Honestly, the first day or the first period, I have never imagined that I would reach this stage.

How were you able to deal with them, how were you able to deal with these things that you talked about? Whether cultural differences or different lifestyles, everything? Everything you have described as difficulties? 
The most thing that helped me, I came here with a studying visa. and at the same time I had my friend, who is basically in the same college, also in dentistry. We registered for master’s at the same time and the same thing and applied for the visa together. We made a plan for this before we got here. We arrived on the same day. We met at the airport and started our journey together. We lived together for almost three years and shared accommodation because it was close to university. In short, we completed each other.

What other factors helped you overcome these difficulties, other than the presence of someone close to you, who was the friend of the whole road? 
The motivation is from the parents. I mean, honestly, without my parents I can’t do it. without their emotional and financial support. I was in contact with them. Thank God, social media matters were available, I mean, we would talk to each other and discuss things. 

The state of COVID-19. How has it affected your daily life, your affection, your feelings and mental health? 
I suffered from depression. certificate equivalency papers were delayed. I started looking for a job in Jan 2020 but the hardest thing happened in October. I lost my father, he passed away so I had to go to Saudi Arabia and stayed there for some time. When I came back I was looking for a job again, I started January 20. On the basis that I mean, I was promised that this will be my permanent job, I mean, even if I did a part time, then they told me that we could make it full time. I started in January and in March it was lockdown and even dentistry was stopped, in our field. There was a difference between private and NHS work. I mean, the priority will be when the dental clinics were opened after the first lock down period, the job was exclusively for NHS. I was not in this role. I used to work with them in the clinic company and they told me to stay at home until things settle down a bit. I was living in London before I started the job and then I moved to Ipswich just so I can work and I signed a 6 month contract and then lockdown happened and I was alone, it was tragic. especially the first three months between march and june, i suffered from severe depression

Well, can you talk about the past a little bit. Can you tell in short why you left your country? 
Well, we basically lived in Saudi Arabia since I was almost two years old. I used to go every summer to Syria for two months. for example, it was my culture or my nature, a mix, between Saudi Arabia and Syria, in Saudi Arabia you can see many different nationalities, so you meet different cultures. unlike Syria you have one community. Thank God, the nature of my personality is very flexible and I can integrate with any society. I actually came to Syria and lived there the university period, five years. The first three years have passed and the revolution has started in 2011. We have not taken the education we wanted, our profession is a practical profession. We are responsible for securing all cases. at the time of the revolution several cities became isolated. I mean, there were barriers and curfews and movement bans were prohibited. Basically, most of our patients came from rural Hama and rural Homs, this has affected us a lot. For example, I knew friends whose patients were arrested or killed. We were trapped and we basically don’t have enough money to eat, let alone travel. I mean, people wouldn’t sacrifice their lives on the dangerous road just to come to us and fix their teeth. I mean, the education conditions were really difficult. In dentistry school we had to have cases that we would work on for a whole semester. As I told you my friend’s patient was killed so he went to the professor and told him.  I mean those things mean nothing in comparison to the lives that were lost and the souls that were tortured. There were some accidents as well. I mean, I don’t know if it can happen in any country, if it’s even possible, if they do happen no one would believe it. I mean, once I remember the fifth year exam, the surgery exam, which is based on a theoretical exam and much of the subject is very important. During the exam,we are focused, our doctors are with us then we are surprised by ten members wearing an army with guns and start shouting for everyone to give their IDs to know their identities! We went into a state of shock. turns out that two students of ours were wanted for being related to the revolution but they weren’t there. imagine that the university professor couldn’t stand afterwards how much he was terrified, he sat and drank water. We say that in the Syrian dialect “Kharit” which means that one no longer knows what to do. Of course guns were on our heads.we have forgotten about the exam. Thank God, fortunately, I succeeded, but this story is impossible to forget.

Well, before you leave your country and before the event that led to  leaving your country, what was your dream? 
It wasn’t a war, it was a revolution, people sought reforming and reducing the oppression but the regime was dictatorial and brutal. Before the revolution my family and I planned to settle in back Syria and start a small project it’s our country after all. At the same time, my dream was to get specialization in Europe and develop my career but I didn’t care about it i just wanted to go back to my country because living with your family worths all the treasures of life. After the revolution, there is no longer a dream, dream is basically destroyed. We had hope that the revolution might succeed in a couple of years but years passed and there’s nothing. Syria became an arena of international conflict. We wanted to keep up with the current situation. I have worked for two years, but I was under pressure or I mean some kind of monopoly for us Syrians in the Gulf. we don’t have permanent residency, it has to be renewed every year. no matter how long you stay, In the end, you’ll always be a foreigner or a resident. I get harassment at work, the boss would threaten us to kick us back into Syria when they knew we had to flee and we can’t go back

Okay, well, before you leave your country, what are your personal strengths? 
The strength of faith in anything, of course, and in God Almighty first of all, but by saying I mean believing in myself in the validity of choosing friends who are around, loved ones, parents and family. Thank God, our relationship was very close. 

Well, what you have gone through shows that it is not easy at all. Did you expect that you grew up or were aware of the result of these experiences in the second part of the question, were there any positive results from all the events you have experienced? 
Of course, one has become very aware because it is mainly the circumstances in which we have gone through. It made us more mature. I mean, imagine that the ones who participated in the revolution, mainly those who were ten years old and nine years old and are aware of this, so those who were ten years old in 2010, now they are twenty years old, imagine this is ten years of killing and torture perhaps they lost many loved ones and family members. hence they were robbed of their childhood. They grew up with destruction and death and they know a lot about war and politics and all kinds of weapons and sounds of bombs and missiles. Compare this 20 years old to a 20 years old from Europe and see the huge difference

Well, if I ask you now what is your dream? 
My dream is that I complete my specialist and reach the highest level in oral surgery dentistry, and in the end to own my own clinic in Britain. 

We are very much appreciative of the answers you have answered to all these questions. Is there any direct message that you would like to send to people living in Europe to understand the lives of refugees more? 
I have encountered many Europeans or English people who have this humanitarian spirit. They have this sympathy, for example, for refugees, expatriates or foreigners, and they accept them. They respect that these refugees have come to this country to be productive, add value and give to this community more than they take. They are patient with refugees and are aware that we are trying to learn their language for example in our Arab countries if you make a simple mistake in English they would make fun of you, unlike people here. they help you rather than make fun of you, they always try to support and help you develop. one day i was training to have my Certificate equation, so i was working in the lab and an old woman came to me, she’s a retired dentist so now she’s working in this field so we talked a bit and she knew i was a syrian refugee she told me something i’ll never forget, “you are a profit for this country” so i asked why and she said because when students come here, it costs us 20,000 pound to teach them in a year and prepare them to be dentists whereas you came here as dentists and you only need a certificate equation exam you’re self-funded and we know that you will succeed and we saved 100,000 pound for five years. So I want to tell Europeans that refugees are not here to take any opportunities from you, because it’s all a result of one’s hard work.