[00:00:00]
When I was six years old the war started between Iran and Iraq, and it lastes (sic) eight or nine years. Sometimes it (sic) just like (sic) happened yesterday, I am still on that war. The bombing, the airplane, the running to the shelter, running to the mountain and stay for a day until it’s safe to come back or home. I have a memory when the school was bombed, I was lucky I had minor injuries, but half of the school was collapsed and later on we found out some of the students were dead.
[00:00:39]
Our school life wasn’t normal, we escaped so many lessons they will call it a warzone so every lesson was cancelled apart from basic literacy and maths. My mother, she was a very disciplined woman. She really care (sic) about our education, she would force us to do the homework before the red glass goes off. Do your homework (laughter), like if it was really matter. The red one the city was under the bombing, yellow one was broken one, was the city is safe but there is a possibility of attack again but we never had it white, it was never safe.
[00:01:21]
When they announced the war is finished, to be honest, nobody think (sic) it as a celebration. Any member of family on that city had someone lost or injured or disabled. You can easily tell 99% of the people of that city suffer from the (sic) mental health. We didn’t eat normally, I can’t remember putting (sic) a pyjama, relax to sleep during that eight years because every other night of the week, middle of the night two o’clock, three o’clock, five o’clock I had to be ready to run to the shelter. Sometimes when I picture it on (sic) my head it looks like a scary movie, and I tell (sic) myself was it my life, or am I imagining it, because I’ve seen a movie similar to that.
[00:02:24]
Sometimes the bombing I can hear it clearly, I can feel the wall shaking, the glasses coming down and then after that the noise of the ambulance, people running around and screaming, it’s so alive. I fell in love and married my husband who was a fighter pilot and he got involved in a political issue against the government. It came to the point, I was waiting for them to capture me completely and put me behind the (sic) bar. And I had to escape before that happened.
[00:03:04]
I left to Bosinia with my son on an airplane, I keep saying I don’t believe in a miracle but that plane landed in Bosnia, I heard and found out later (sic) was the last plane from Iran, they cut off that flight completely, they had information (sic) majority of people were going to claim asylum. The plan was to come to England. We were on that lorry, it was so frightening and scary, nobody had to say a word, maybe 18 hours and it was freezing cold. They said when the sounds go absolutely quiet that means the lorry has moved to the port in England, so there you can open up and come out.
[00:03:53]
Next morning everyone was scared, you couldn’t breathe properly, not much air, and one of them had a knife. Security came forward, they called the police, I couldn’t walk anymore, at that point I was frozen, I couldn’t feel anything. The interpreter was with them, they were very nice. That was the first time over that journey for three months I felt (sic), somebody cares (sic) rather than why we (sic) are there. They showed they really care about your health first, he was interpreting word by word he said tell them they are safe, there is nothing threatening you.
[00:04:41]
We came to this school, we went to the head office and the headteacher she said you are at the right place, I didn’t know what she meant and to me nowhere was the right place and she took us to Salusbury World and that was the best thing (sic) happened (sic) in this country to us, it changed our life (sic). They really look after kids, we were so unwell, both of us under the care of the medical foundation, mental health prescription, sleeping tablets, panic attacks. I care about the staff and the people at the (sic) Salusbury World the way I care about my family.
[00:05:27]
I wish we could have a centre, a place like this, in the other part of the country and the whole (sic) Europe. I get really offended and get really upset when people have no idea how war will affect people and what impact it will have on their life even many years later. I think people should have hope, if they have hope they can make it and I did because I had hope.
[00:06:04]
END