“My life as a refugee started long before I was even born,” Najlaa begins when asked what brought her to London as a Team Leader for Seetec, where she helps people in London to access good, sustainable work.
Najlaa grew up in a Palestinian generational refugee family, originally displaced to Syria by war in 1948. Her grandparents and parents had made a home where they could as a family, unable to return to their motherland.
She was born a child without a nationality, and to this day remains stateless.
As a child, she moved between neighbourhoods that were comparatively safest when political and economic shifts made once-familiar streets too dangerous to stay.
Home was defined by family and community rather than place. She thrived in spite of the systemically unstable ground under her feet.
Stability has never been a given for Najlaa. It shifts, sometimes quickly, and her plans have changed with it.
From an early age, Najlaa understood something often overlooked: becoming a refugee is not passive. It is a tough action taken when staying in your familiar place is not possible. The consequences last a lifetime.
A career plan that had to change
Najlaa came to the UK in 2019 as a student, intending to return afterwards to Syria to continue her established humanitarian career with organisations including the UN.
By the time she finished her studies, that plan was gone. It was no longer safe to return either to her work or her family, who had already been left with no option but to leave the country as attacks escalated.
What followed was not a clean transition in her status and rights, but prolonged uncertainty. Legal processes, complex evidencing, long waits, and not knowing what might come next.
Life without a fixed place
Her family now lives across Europe. She visits when she can, but not easily. Living close enough for everyday connection with them is not something she expects to have again.
At airport borders, she is reminded she does not fully belong to any one country. She will never get to choose who she spends her day-to-day life with or nearby.
Building hope on unstable ground
After her studies, while navigating a delayed UK immigration system in the wake of Covid and Brexit, she worked in hospitality. She describes her unusual right to work through that initial application period as “lucky”.
It gave structure, social connections, and income – but not certainty. She was working, but the ground beneath her emerging new life remained unstable.
Seven years on, there has been no clear moment where things turned a corner to feel settled. Instead, she has continued to move forward driven by hope, hard work, and the support of the community she found here in UK.
From humanitarian work to supporting employment in the UK
Najlaa eventually moved into employment support services, reconnecting with her humanitarian skillset in a new context.
Today she is a Team Leader at Seetec in Central London. Through the role she supports people into employment and contributes to the UK government growth agenda that seeks to ‘Get Britain Working’.
She works with Londoners facing multiple barriers to employment including long-term health conditions or disability, caring commitments, disengaged young people, and people rebuilding after big changes in their circumstances – including fellow refugees.
She contributes directly to a local response to national priorities. Increasing social participation, facilitating employment, enabling safer streets by removing barriers to opportunity, and fuelling inclusive growth.
She contributes directly to a local response to national priorities. Increasing social participation, facilitating employment, enabling safer streets by removing barriers to opportunity, and fuelling inclusive growth.
Success while navigating uncertainty
Najlaa works for the benefit of others in the face of long-term personal uncertainty every day.
As part of the Seetec team, she helps other people move forward while parts of their lives remain unresolved. She strives to create a sense of belonging and belief in people within the employment service. For some people they advise this is the first time they experience a show of faith in their unique potential.
For Najlaa, stability has never been something she is entitled to. It has been built, piece by piece.
She has become a high-performing professional in this work, delivering results not only for the people she helps, or her employer, but for the UK’s productivity and growth agenda.
Hope for a permanent future
Najlaa hopes one day to become a citizen here. Not motivated by entitlement, but because she has invested her hope and contributions here.
“Everyone’s refugee journey is different but most in my community have had to be very brave.
Najlaa
“They have had to work hard to contribute and find ways to belong here over many years because immigration systems leave us in limbo for a long time,” she says.
“If someone wants to help refugees, they should start by not assuming they know our stories. They should be curious and just ask. As colleagues, as friends, as neighbours. As people.”
Najlaa’s life is now in the UK. She is contributing. She is a valuable part of her community.
The foundations beneath the life she has created here remain uncertain.
She continues to hope.
More information about Refugee Week 2026 is available on the Refugee Week website.
