Flight to the UK and absorbing the country

I embarked onto the plane…an English plane. After about a quarter, a third of an hour, the…(air) hostess came. She said to me, “we’re organising the plane. Do you want to sit in first class?”. Okay? I said okay. They were organising. As in, to organise…

I sat next to someone. This was my first time on a plane. After our whole story where we weren’t able to leave (Iraq), I couldn’t believe it. As in, (I was scared) they would return the plane when it was already in the air.

I said to the man next to me, “where are we?”. He said to me, “we’re next to…a place, Lake Habbaniya. On the way.”

The plane continued. One hour later I said to him, “where are we now?”. He said to me, “we’re over the mountains of Turkey”. As in, we’d crossed…we were done with Iraq. We’d passed into Turkey. I said to him in English, “thank Gd!”.

He said to me, “what do you mean, thank Gd?”. So I told him the story, as in I couldn’t…up until the last moment, I could still be returned (to Iraq). I was scared like that.

I arrived in London at about two thirty. London in January an hour or hour and a half later becomes dark. Iraq is like Israel - between winter and summer…five to seven. In England, in winter it becomes dark at 3pm and in summer at 10:30pm. So it was a strange thing to me. 

Okay, I got to the airport. What’s the first thing I see? (An) El-Al (plane with) a Magen David. I mean, (it was a) shock seeing a Magen David. Because, in Iraq, we didn’t have any information. They didn’t let us. Imagining such a thing would be a joke. A sheriff, as it׳s called in English.[…]…he has a star here (on his chest). Either five, or a 6 (pointed) star. Cowboy films would come out on TV and someone would sit and erase that (star). It was impossible that a star of David would be seen. And I, by coincidence, see this…a plane with a star on it.

I exited the airport. I said (to myself), “how do I arrive?” Imagine - it was my first time on a plane. I got there. (People) told me, “take a bus which will take you from the station - Heathrow airport - it will take you to Victoria Station in the centre.”

Baghdad wasn’t big. As in, from home to the airport was about a quarter of an hour. Here, the bus was going and going and going. From Heathrow to the centre it took almost an hour and a half. Everything was different. Everything had changed.

I got to the station. Okay. I saw cucumbers - a cucumber of this size. Our cucumbers were small. Okay? For this much money. We would buy a few kilos with the money that…everything was different. A woman was walking wearing a mini skirt. In Baghdad, if a girl walked with a short skirt, they would hassle her.

Okay. So where should I go? I had the phone number of some group in London. Supposedly I would be staying with them for a few days and from there I would go to Manchester.

I called them and nobody answered. I didn’t know what to do. I had no…I had nobody. The other phone number I had, I called them. It turned out to be a hotel which took…(guests for) a week. People who travelled would take a room in the place for a week. They didn’t have daily rooms. I was by myself in London, I had nobody, and I didn’t know what to do. I had a little money in my pocket. So I saw things quickly…money is very expensive. Life is very expensive compared to Iraq.

I walked from street to street for two-three hours not knowing what to do. I didn’t know what to do in the end. In the end I called the first number again. Someone answered. He said to me, “ah, yes. I heard that you were coming but I had gone to Manchester on the weekend and I just came back.” I said to him, “okay. So how do I get to you?”. He said to me, “okay. You go from here and take a taxi. This is the address.” I was in shock. In Baghdad, if someone came - here in Israel too - if someone comes to the airport, they come to the airport to get him. Or to the station to get him. He said to me, “take a taxi and come to the house.” 

How much did the taxi cost? Three and a half pounds. Four and a half pounds. I did the calculation. I have two hundred, three hundred pounds…this is how much has gone from the two hundred. With these three and a half pounds one would live for two, three days in Iraq. Here, on a taxi, I spent three and a half pounds. After, I took it. I had no other…what’s it called?

I arrived at his house. This was after (19)67, (19)69. Jews were still…after the 6 day war. He opened the door wearing a magen David. A star of David. I was shocked by this too. I sat with him and he said to me, “what would you like to drink?”. I said to him, “tea”. Iraqi Jews bring tea. Now, this man brought a mug…a glass like this, with hot water inside. He didn’t bring tea. He brought something like this and put it in the water. Dunked it in the water. What was he dunking - putting it like this in the water. I said to him, “what is this?’. He said, “this is called a teabag”. 

I said to him, “where are the…my suitcases?”. He said to me, “these…the people responsible for what was in the suitcases asked us, ‘what are these suitcases?’”. I said to them, ‘I don’t know’.” Where were they? They were still at the airport. Okay.

One, the next day was Monday. I went to the place where they had given me the scholarship. It was the first time I had contact with them. The same thing again. I said to him, “how do I get there?”. I also assumed he would come and take me there. He said to me, “you go out of the house, go left, take right, take the train…another train in the underground”.

Think - I was 22 years old but […]…this was the first time I went out of Iraq. And the first time I was coming to the middle of London. Okay? 

So, I also took that (route). Up until now I still remember. I stood on the underground. I put my foot on the ground strongly like this. I said, “Khedher, if you don’t rely on yourself - you’ll lose yourself here”.

I got to that place, at the time it was called “The Anglo-Jewish Association” and the “Jewish Refugees Committee” which was…like an organisation for…Jewish refugees. They said to me, “we allocated the scholarship in September.” They didn’t have a scholarship (for me). So what would I do? They said to me, “no, listen. It’s okay. We’ll make do. As in, we can find something and we’ll make it work.” As in, they’d allocated the thing and were waiting for me. They said to me, “go to Manchester and we’ll look after you…as in, we’ll figure something out for you.”

One day later, I went to the airport. Until then, in Baghdad, who would carry an umbrella? And (then) the skies opened. (Heavy) rain from the roots. I was only wearing a coat, but no…I didn’t have an umbrella or anything else.

I got there and found out that the suitcases weren’t at the airport. They were at another place. I took the suitcases and brought them to the station with the intention of travelling to Manchester the next day.

I met a friend. I’ll tell you a few funny stories from my first days.

I met a friend who had already come by smuggling. He had travelled by…escaped via the north. He was a very…friend to me. He took me to his house, which was in north London. I wanted…we talked and such….and we went back. He said to me, “okay, where is your house?”. I said, “here…in the south”, which is about…between the north of London and south of London is about an hour and a half on the road.

We arrived at the area where I would go down with those (people). He said to me, “Khedher, where is the house?”. I said to him, “I swear it’s…there’s a train, there’s a street, above it is a bridge and the train goes above the bridge.” It was as though I had given (told) him “I mean, it’s right here…there’s a bridge with a train going over it.” He said to me, “Khedher, is this Baghdad!? Here every street has a bridge with a train going above it.”

Afterwards, he took something out for me. He looked for something in it. I said to him, “what is this?”. He said to me, “this has all the streets in it […]…”. I arrived at the place. We arrived. 
On Thursday - I got there on Monday - I took the train to Manchester.