'I could finally see my childhood photos in Syria'

BBC News

20 hours ago

"That's me with a cheeky smile - [my] hairstyle's still the same," jokes Bilal Batous as he looks at a picture taken on his last day at nursery school in Syria.It was one of a number of photographs his family were forced to leave behind when they fled their neighbourhood in Idlib after it was targeted by airstrikes.Bilal was just 12 at the time and his family were invited to move to the UK as part of a refugee resettlement scheme, finding themselves housed in Gedling, Nottinghamshire.Now, 10 years later, he has returned to Syria for the first time and collected some treasured childhood pictures - some he had never seen before.
"We didn't think about any photos or any personal things, we left everything," said Bilal's mother, Manal Rawaeh, adding safety was their main priority.The family now has British citizenship, and Bilal and Manal have just finished the same biomedical science degree at Nottingham Trent University.
The emotional return to Syria came after the sudden downfall of President Assad.Bilal knew his uncle had the family photographs they had left behind and said those were his "biggest priority"."Before asking how he was doing I told him 'give us the photo albums'," he said."I just pushed him away and said 'where's the albums? I want to see the albums'."When he gave me the photo albums, I said 'oh, by the way uncle, how are you? How's life? Sorry I didn't say hi to you'."Bilal also found his own baby photo and was surprised to see old pictures of his father for the first time. "I look like the old version of my dad, when he was young," Bilal added.
The family photos are so important because they are a window into the life they had to leave so suddenly, a story that resonates for refugees around the world.Bilal's mother, Manal Rawaeh, says their priority was to keep themselves safe.
Manal also described the warm welcome they received this summer from friends and relatives in Syria who survived the civil war. "(It was) like a dream. We came from a different world and they tried to make us happy."Despite the devastation caused by the conflict, the family's flat remained intact."Before going in, just standing in front of the building brought a lot of flashbacks. Us running around the house, for example," Bilal said."I remembered the route that I used to walk to school, the supermarket across the road, it's like my heart was aching".
Bilal brought back a Syrian football top with the new national logo and does not rule out returning at some point in the future.But Syria is still unstable and he says his life is in now Nottinghamshire."I'm graduating soon and all my family and friends are here, so I'm properly settled in the UK," he explained.His dad, Amjad, has worked for Royal Mail for several years, and his mum, Manal, is applying for NHS jobs after hospital placements during her degree."I like Syria and I like Nottingham," Manal added. "I felt like, when I was in Syria, I have to come back to Nottingham, it is my home here."
Bilal said he is still close friends with the English classmates who helped him settle into the UK almost a decade ago.He said it was a 'good thing' his family was resettled in an area where most people only spoke English.He said: "It helped me learn English because it forces you to mix in the culture, it forces you to get to know people and to learn the language."I'm very grateful because this country gave me a new opportunity, a new life, and I'm looking forward to - when I graduate - to give something back to the country".