Taha on refugees

On Saturday,  I with lots of very excited children and their parents, eagerly awaited the arrival of Little Amal who had walked from Syria to London via St. Paul's Cathedral and Oxo Tower Wharf.

I made some time to chat to one of the children who attends the neighbour centre. Taha (9) was busily colouring a lovely picture to welcome Amal the giant puppet raising awareness of refugee children. So I asked Taha why he had come to Gabriel’s Wharf with his mum Laila, younger brother Khalil and his baby sister Lily.

What do you know about refugees?

They get kicked out of their country and they have they have to stow away on either boats planes or cars to get to a new country to be safe because of war going on in the country like people bombing houses and people just ruining their country and taking over as they want to be so powerful.

What do you think and feel when you hear about people having to leave where they live?

It makes me feel very upset because people can't live in their home country. Because other people just want to have their country.

What do you think about refugees coming to London and Great Britain?

It's a good idea to come to this country from somewhere like Syria because they can be safe, and no one will take them over.

What do you think we could all do to make refugees feel more welcome here?

We could improve how we welcome people into the country. We could donate money to refugees.

Anything else?

Give clothes. Anything that could help them.  

What about being kind?

Yeah, you just got to respect other people.

On Sunday 24 October Little Amal celebrated her 10 birthday at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and after a very busy weekend.  Little Amal met with a warm welcome in the capital, visiting many famous sights and greeted by thousands of people. On Monday 25 October, Little Amal visited the Palace of Westminster. After that  Little Amal headed north where in for Manchester she will finish her long 8,000km journey.