• Swindon & Wiltshire Education, training and skills
• Monday September 15 2025

Students’ stories of courage are raising money for refugees

A book telling of refugees’ harrowing journey to the UK, written by ESOL students at Wiltshire College & University Centre, is halfway to its charity fundraising target.

Journeys To Wiltshire was inspired by the stories lecturer Tom Evans heard from students as he helped them get to grips with learning English in preparation for finding work or studying.

He felt their tales of the extraordinary danger, hardship, courage and compassion they experienced as they fled war-torn, oppressive or politically unstable homelands in search of a better life would help explain their reasons for coming to the UK.

“We began to hear more of their stories and many of them were very moving,” he said. “We heard about students losing close family members and friends and being afraid for their own lives and those of their children.

“We felt that giving them a chance to these stories in their own words would be a great way to help them express themselves, so we asked them to write about how they came to live here, if they felt comfortable doing that, which happily many of them did.”

He and his colleagues decided to publish the stories to raise awareness of the ordeal suffered by migrants coming to Britain. “We also thought that this could be great way of raising money for charities that support refugees both in the UK and internationally,” he said.

So far it has raised £400 of its £800 target, with proceeds being split between The Refugee Council, Refugee Community Kitchen and The British Red Cross.

The book has stories by 22 students from nine countries about why they fled their homeland, their often perilous journeys and the welcome they have received after eventually arriving in Wiltshire.

One student from Sudan tells how he fled after government militia killed two of his brothers and jailed him, his brother and his parents. His brother was then killed in prison. “We got out from the prison and after that I told my parents that I couldn’t live like this,” he recalls.

Nataliia, a doctor, tells how she and her daughter hid in an underground car park in Kyiv armed with an axe for protection after the Russians bombs began falling on the city. “At this moment you are not afraid to die,” she writes. “There are worse things for you.

“The worst thing is the understanding that if a bomb arrives your child may die. You pray to God to save your daughter’s life.”

She recalls hearing the invaders had killed her friend and her friend’s parents and bombed the cemetery where her grandparents are buried. “Before the war, I didn’t know how to truly hate, now I have learned,” she says.

Afghani Mashid Miralikhil tells how his family had to flee the Taliban because his father had worked with the BBC. “From the 15th of August 2021 onwards I had the worst experience with the Taliban for five months,” he writes.

‘S’ from Kurdistan writes about his journey to Britain. “I decided to go away, because I was in danger from the Iranian government,” he says. “So I just followed the guy my uncle told me to follow. It was a hard journey. They were so bad to me, they put me in vans and left me like an animal. It was a hard time until we finally got here in Britain.”

But, says Tom, there are also many stories of hope. “One of the wonderful things that comes across is what a safe, friendly and welcoming home most of our students have found here in Wiltshire,” he said.

Ferdowsi Nahar Chowdhury, from Bangladesh, writes: “I am now living like a free bird in Wiltshire. I’m here to always learn new things. When I was in Bangladesh I felt like a burden to myself and now I feel like an asset to myself. After being on a journey to Wiltshire I feel proud of myself.”

Journeys To Wiltshire, priced at £4, is available from the college’s online Shop with free postage via https://shop.wiltshire.ac.uk or from the Learning Resource Centres at the Salisbury, Trowbridge or Chippenham Campuses. It is also on sale at Salisbury Museum and the Rocket Bookshop in Salisbury.

Tom will also be selling copies at the Ukrainian Festival of Culture and Cuisine at Salisbury Playhouse on September 27 from 10am.

Pictured: ESOL students Farah Mohammed and Aryan Singh with copies of Journeys To Wiltshire