MARZIEH Momeni journeyed through hell to make it to Scotland. She doesn’t know exactly where she went on her way here, because she was hidden in a lorry with her two children.

In those 15 days, she remembers being in a forest somewhere, once, while a change was made. But mostly she doesn’t like to remember it at all.

Her uncle paid smugglers to bring her, son Benyamin and daughter Rozhin to safety.

That was three-and-a-half years ago and the family is now settled in Glasgow, where Momeni, who was a midwife in her home country, works as a phlebotomist in the NHS.

“My colleagues say I am very strong,” she says. “I have good friends here, a good life, a safe life.”

Momeni was granted political asylum in the UK after trying to organise support for a writer whose work criticised authorities in Iran.

That kind of persecution is common in the country and many of those affected seek refuge in the UK, making Iranians one of the biggest groups applying for asylum here in recent years.

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Today is UN World Refugee Day, which aims to show how much refugees contribute to society. Working for the NHS during the pandemic in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospitals complex, Momeni, a single parent, says her time on the wards is a pleasure. “It’s a good job,” she says, and helps her continually practise her near-perfect English.

“I really appreciate that I can work,” she says. “Some of my friends said I should stop during the coronavirus because it would be too dangerous and I have children, but I’m not working just for money, I like to be in touch with people and help them.”

Momeni’s story isn’t a secret at work, where she says her colleagues are also friends, but it’s not something she likes to discuss with patients – even those who do query her accent.

“Some do ask where I’m from,” she says, “and I ask them, ‘can you guess?’ They guess maybe Polish or Italian or American, but I’ve only had two who were correct and that was down to my name – they had friends who were also called Marzieh.

“Sometimes they ask how I got here and what happened, but it only takes each patient two or three minutes in the room to have their blood taken, and it takes much longer to tell my story.”

Momeni, who aims to re-enter midwifery after requalifying to meet NHS requirements, says she’s changed a lot while building her new life here. She’s the member of an Iranian dancing group through Maryhill Integration Network and she’s grateful for the personal freedoms she and her children now have.

Some of her first friendships here came through a city church group. “That was amazing for me,” she said, “I was excited to know them.

“I like Christian people, I can understand them. They accept everyone, Iranian or African or anything else. In Iran there are only Muslims, no-one can choose another religion, but here everyone is the same, every religion is the same.

“The Iranian government doesn’t care about the Iranian people. I won’t go back to my home country – I can’t go back. Many of my friends have moved to the UK, to England, but I really, really love it here.

“The only thing I don’t like is the weather, but that’s the same with the native people.”