A teenage refugee who has built a new life in Scotland after fleeing war-torn Yemen has told how grateful he is to now feel welcome and safe.
Ahmad was only 16 when he fled political persecution in his homeland.
He suffered police beatings, kidnap and nearly drowned during a gruelling eight-month journey to the UK.
Now 19 and a student living in Ayrshire, Ahmad has told how he managed to reach Scotland against the odds. The Record is not revealing his last name to protect his identity.
His journey began with a trek across Saudi Arabia before he eventually made it to Greece, where he was forced to camp out in forests and on mountains.
It was there he and others were kidnapped by a criminal gang who sent videos to his family, threatening to kill him until they managed to gather £800 in ransom.
He said: “We were so scared. They beat us, left us to urinate ourselves and only fed us once a day. I just wanted to die, it was so terrible.
“When they left us, they had taken everything we had.”
The group then walked for three days to reach Albania, where he claims they were beaten by police, before finding their way to Serbia.
There they were forced to sleep in the snow-covered mountains, huddled together in freezing temperatures.
Ahmad said: “We were numb, our clothes were soaking and we thought we would die from the cold.
“Sometimes we stayed in a refugee camp but the conditions were inhuman, with 50 of us cramped in a room and the food was so bad we could barely eat it.”
Ahmad managed to make his way across Europe and after an unhappy spell in the “jungle” camps of Calais in France, where he was
regularly attacked, he took a smuggler’s boat across the English Channel to Dover.
He said: “The weather was terrible and the boat was overcrowded. In the middle of the channel it started to fill with water and we had no lifejackets.
“We managed to call for help. I told them, ‘We have 10 minutes before we drown, please come or we will die’. We were minutes from dying when we were rescued.”
When he arrived in the UK, Ahmad was moved to Scotland where he was placed under the wing of the Scottish Guardianship Service (SGS).
For more than a decade the SGS has been supporting all unaccompanied child asylum seekers and has been referred a total of 571 since 2018, of whom 93 have come through the Home Office transfer scheme.
Under the scheme, councils are sent a number of unaccompanied kids who have arrived via the channel with no parent or guardian.
The SGS, which is funded by the Scottish Government and run by Aberlour Children’s Charity and the Scottish Refugee Council, gives the youngsters psychological support, access to English lessons, friendships, arts and social events.
Ahmad said: “They asked me when I came to England if I wanted to come to Scotland and I said, ‘Yes’. I knew it was
not as racist. Where I live in Ayrshire there aren’t any other people who look like me but I haven’t suffered racism in Scotland.
“Most of all, the Scottish Guardianship Service has changed my life for the better. It is everything to me.
“They have helped me to get legal advice for my asylum application, to learn English, to meet friends, to understand everything from Scottish food to the local culture.
“We dance, we play football. They are always there for me.”
He added: “They have made such a difference to my life.
“They helped me to look forward and not live in the past.
“I am happy in Scotland and that is because of the guardians and the people of this country.
“I am so grateful to feel welcome and safe after so long.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
