-I am from Syria, from Damascus.
I was imprisoned twice by the regime,
and I had to flee as a result of that.
-I'm from Bangladesh.
I'm being recognized as a victim of modern-day slavery
and trafficking inside the UK,
and also my asylum claim is still going on.
-The war started in Syria,
so it was impossible to move back.
-I come from a country where being gay
is still not acceptable.
One of the main reasons I have stayed here is because
I was raped at the age of 11 by my next-door neighbor,
so going back is like going back to a lot of pain
and a lot of trauma.
-I was desperate to help.
I signed up to volunteer for the NHS,
which is the National Health Service in England, in the UK,
but because there are so many great people in this country,
they got 750,000 requests,
which resulted in them not being able to manage everyone.
So I was like, "I'm gonna do this.
I'm gonna find a way in."
So I found a job.
-I have opened a little food bank
which is called MD's Little Food Bank,
being an asylum seeker myself living on £5 a day.
And this is the common scenario for all asylum seekers
who's living in the UK.
During this pandemic, I felt that this is not really enough
for a person to live.
I don't take any money donations from people.
All I take is food donations from people.
-So took in the job.
Went in very nervous.
Did an induction, received the training by the agency,
and straight to the COVID wards.
It's a hectic situation in the hospital.
Everyone is on alert.
It's physically and mentally demanding.
I see people who are -- sorry, I don't mean to get emotional,
but it's difficult because I do see people suffering sometimes,
and it hurts.
It hurts to see people suffering.
-And within two days, 48 hours, they pass away.
So people that come to the hospital,
I think they don't feel that they are sick.
Anesthesiologists, they have the highest rate of risk
because they are very close to sick people with positive COVID.
-I'm not working at the moment, I'm job seeking,
and I have just launched a small fashion brand called Teem Khan.
During the time I'm here at home,
I'm making masks and scrubs for the NHS.
I'm having fun making them, which I have to be very careful.
I have found myself being up until 4:00 in the morning,
have said to some of my friends or my housemate,
"Could you please just drag me off from the sewing machine,
like, say, 'It's enough for today'?"
-On the happy side of this
is that I do see people getting discharged,
and I see people getting back to their families.
And I know how hard it is to be separated from their families,
because I have been separated
from my family for quite some time.
-And I have two children and my husband.
They are proud of me,
and I can see that they have some concerns.
When I look at them, their eyes,
they fear that I might catch the virus.
I have some times when I get emotional,
and I feel so sorry for people, also for relatives,
they were calling to check on their husbands
or wives in the ICU,
so it's very hard to break bad news for them.
We have to, you know, adjust ourselves,
our minds, to the situation.
-I have never done therapy before.
But I said that, for me to be able to do this,
I need to be man, to be strong.
So on my week one, my very good friend
who is the founder of the Choose
Love charity, the CEO, what I told you about,
she was like, "Hassan, I want to help,
and I'm gonna help by getting you a therapist."
I'm lucky to have this.
Not many frontline workers,
especially cleaners and porters and security guards,
are being provided mental health support.
-But we also have to take care of the asylum people
who are seeking asylum in the country.
I went through the process.
I know the pain and the feeling of how it was not having food
and not having money for my bus pass or for my phone bill.
So therefore I thought if I could give something
to them right now, what could I give?
I can't financially support them.
I said, you know what?
I'm going to start a little something where,
if I manage to get people to donate £10 per mask,
they get a mask, and then we can give a mask to an asylum seeker.
What we are also asking people,
if they want to donate and you don't have £10,
and if you want to donate £1, donate £1.
It's absolutely fine because every little helps.
So far I've made about a hundred,
and we've sold about 40,
so which means we've given away about 40.
And the sequins, which is like the most fam--
literally the famous one and it's actually been the one
that people have been donating
and wanting to purchase the most.
It's perfect for attention seekers.
-Just going on my bike to drop a family pack
to a vulnerable family.
She's struggling a lot.
But, yeah, let's go.
This bag is quite heavy.
-My colleagues are from Nigeria.
They are from Ghana.
They are from the Caribbean.
They're Syrians. They're from Spain.
They're from the Philippines, and China.
They're British.
And they are all fighting the same fights.
-When health-care professionals get sick,
they are the -- in the war zone.
Doctors, nurses, all paramedics should protect themselves first,
and then they will be able to protect others.
-So we have different beds, and every bed,
there is an area for the bed, you mop around the bed,
and then you take that mop and you throw it away,
and then you use another mop.
It's a very sophisticated process,
and when I say I received the training,
some people mocked me on social media, like, "Oh, yeah.
As if cleaning needs training."
I was like, "This actually needs training.
We are not just cleaners."
Your job is to protect the patients and the NHS staff.
I genuinely think, after this is done,
internationally we should have a discussion
about how we treat our working class.
-I am happy with this work because -- with these people --
I am doing something to help them.
-The personal feeling after I made that 10 first scrub sets,
folded, ironed, and I put it in the bag,
oh, my God, it was just incredible.
-I feel that I belong to this community.
I know I'm an asylum seeker.
My status is not been granted.
-Seeking refuge is my human right,
but I wanted to pay back to the community.
I feel I belong to this country now.
-My message to any professional,
health professional coming from our area as a refugee --
Please don't give up, and work hard.
You can do it.