From Damascus to Doctorate
Rami Bouhassoun’s journey to west London has been a long and traumatic one which started when he left a war torn Syria in 2014, after it became too dangerous to travel to school. Bombings were a daily occurrence and Rami’s parents decided that to have a chance of survival, they had to leave. Since moving to Greenford, Rami has never looked back.
Damascus, from beautiful, to battlefield
Before the war in Syria, I lived a quiet life with my family in a town called Swedia near Damascus and that’s where I completed my secondary education. But in a matter of months, it became no longer possible to go to college. I couldn’t travel safely to my studies as explosions were a frequent hazard.
I feared for my life and my family had no idea whether the conflict would last for a matter of weeks, months or much longer.
Our traumatic circumstances were made even worse when, just before our departure from Syria the treatment my mother had been receiving for cancer became unavailable.
We had a choice, we could either stay, facing isolation, little education and possibly even death. Or, we could leave.
A new chapter
However, my parents chose to leave, so along with my brother, we made the long journey to London.
January 2014 was a remarkable time in my life, a new chapter. We had a lot of hope and I was very excited about the possibility of studying in the UK. But at the same time, life was a challenge in many ways. My mother’s ill health was still a concern, together with the fact that my education up until 2014 had been purely in the Arabic language.
Small steps, big ambitions
We settled in Greenford, West London, and straight away I looked for a good college to enrol with. My English was my main concern.
I looked into many colleges across London but settled on one close to home. Ealing, Hammersmith and West London’s College had a great reputation and offered the qualifications I wanted.
In February 2014, I started an entry course to help me settle in and get the support I needed to improve my language skills. This was swiftly followed in the September by studying A Levels in biology, chemistry and mathematics. The next two years were filled with friendly lecturers and students and seemed to fly by. I think this was helped with the modern teaching techniques which I hadn’t experienced in Damascus. The use of laptops, presentations, puzzles and Q&A games made the learning experience much more engaging.
I wanted to do as well as possible to show my parents that their decision to come to the UK was the best they could have made and the college lecturers, knowing my background, couldn’t have been more supportive. They stretched and challenged me to achieve the best results possible and even supported me through my university application.
This August, my determination to make my mother and father proud paid off as I achieved three A* grades at A Level in biology, chemistry and mathematics with statistics. My family were delighted. My mother cried many tears of happiness, as I’m sure many mothers around the country did.
What next?
I’ve just started my pharmacy degree at University College London. I’m then hoping to go on to achieve my PhD. A far cry from where my journey began. I can’t thank my lecturers and support staff enough as my results don’t only highlight my hard work only but also that of the college staff and my parents.
My advice to others is that you can achieve beyond your wildest dreams, whatever your situation, never give up. Just believe that anything is possible.
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