“I became a cleaner during the pandemic to give something back to the country which took me in as a refugee five years ago.
I’m from Damascus in Syria. During the uprising in 2011, I was arrested for protesting and was beaten very badly by the secret police. Both my arms were broken, my ribs were smashed and I almost lost my left leg because they beat me so much.
I didn’t feel safe anymore and ended up going to Turkey. There I paid people traffickers to put me in a dinghy to western Europe, but it sank and we were picked up by the coastguards and returned to Turkey.
Further attempts followed and eventually I made it to the UK.
When the pandemic hit, it brought up those same feelings of fear and anxiety that I had back in Damascus. There were similarities; the people queuing for food, empty shelves, the state of emergency and lockdowns.
I felt I needed to do something. I was obsessed with finding out how I could help. I came across an urgent job post for a hospital cleaner at Whipps Cross which is 10 mins away.
I applied and the next day I was in the hospital. I was terrified. I’d experienced a lot trying to get to the UK, but with this I was terrified because it was invisible and no one knew what was happening.
I was pretty shocked by what I saw on the wards. It was unreal to be honest. We didn’t have an empty bed for two months. There were always Covid patients in and out. Out to their homes recovering, or out in body bags. It was insane, so many people died. I’ve never been around that much death before.
I was doing over 20,000 steps a day, so physically and mentally it was exhausting.
I ended up cleaning for 65 days until they closed the ward. It was one of 12 Covid wards. Most of my colleagues there were not from Britain. It was as if we were all working our hardest for the country that we had decided to make our home. That’s what united us.”
Hassan Akkan
Waltham Forest
PLEASE SUPPORT US FOR JUST £2 A MONTH
