A new gardener at HPC
We are thrilled that Monther, who was the gardener at HPC, has started a new job. We now have a new gardener, Saleh Alhulani. Sahel, his wife Amneh and their children Mohammad and Yousef are Syrian refugees sponsored by another Hampstead Community Sponsorship group, Welcome Syrian Families.
One of the photographs below shows Saleh, with his wife Amneh and Emily Woof the coordinator for Welcome Syrian Families.
Saleh and Amneh were living in Homs when the war in Syria broke out. Two months later their home was bombed and they had to move with their six children. For two years they moved their family around Syria trying to get away from the fighting. They moved about six times before fleeing to Lebanon where they lived for six years before coming to England. Life in Lebanon was also difficult. The Lebanese economy is bad and Syrian refugees are not welcome. They were constantly on the move because they had no money and there was little work. Eventually they moved to a refugee camp, but these too are difficult places.
One daughter is married and living in Idlib with her husband’s family. Idlib is currently at the heart of the fighting. Amneh tries to call her children every day. The day we met she said that when she called her daughter in Idlib she could hear the sirens in the background. Three of her other children are married and living in Lebanon. Saleh and Amneh are proud grandparents and we were shown photographs on their phones of their 9 grandchildren.
They miss their children and grandchildren terribly but felt they needed to try and make a life for their two youngest children, Mohammad who is 20 who would like to work with computers and Yousef who is 10.
Despite all this Saleh is an amazingly cheerful person, who the second time we met brought me some delicious falafel which he had made. In Syria he worked as a chef and would like to try and set up a catering business.
We are very pleased to have Saleh working for us. There is a lot to do keeping our two graveyards tidy. At the moment one of the big challenges is keeping the litter under control. As a result of lockdown the graveyards have become an important green space for a lot of people, who bring their takeaway meals to eat in the fresh air. As lockdown hopefully eases the brambles will be starting to grow! So much to do.