By Susy Shearer

I was not born here
My life started far away from here
And all we once had
Was lost and left behind in the fight for life
The nanny, the beautiful home
The bank accounts, the private doctors
The private girls’ school has long been left behind
We left our homeland, friends, and family
Because we had to leave
We had to leave so that we could live
Arriving with nothing, nothing but hope
We arrived together, and we were a family again
Dad had been tortured, so to the hospital he had to go
I am one of thousands who have left the land of our birth
Some were poor, others were not
But we all sought just one thing
Sanctuary
And everything that sanctuary gives
Hope, Peace, Freedom, and Safety…
It did not matter that we lived in a flat
A flat with no furniture,
Nothing but one old mattress
We were happy
We were a family again

When a man from our homeland visited with two of his friends
He was overwhelmed at hearing our “Posh”, well-spoken voices
Living in an empty flat with just one rolled-up mattress
Where they were invited to sit
We were happy because we had been given sanctuary

The three who had visited were miners from Lochgelly
The next day, two double-decker buses arrived at the tenement
And four men knocked at our door
All miners and their families from Lochgelly
Had given and put in the buses
Everything they had to give
So, in a matter of hours, our empty
But for one mattress at nighttime, and a rolled-up sofa in daytime
Our safe home was fully furnished
Three different carpets in the sitting room
One sofa and four odd single armchairs
And everything else that is needed in a home
To make an empty flat a home
Not two plates were the same
Pots and pans, cushions and clothes, and toys
We were a family again

We were Refugees, we are refugees
Living in our new homeland
Where we do not fear the armed forces
Where men and women are not “disappeared”
We were a family again
We had been given Sanctuary
We had been given Hope
And as a family, one amongst many
We were given the power to be free
I am a refugee, and I am an adopted Scottish woman
I am free to be!
I am a Refugee
I am alive and safe
Because YOU gave me
Hope and a sanctuary