London synagogue helps rescue Muslim family from war-torn Sudan
EXCLUSIVE: The family’s arrival in the UK comes as a result of the remarkable work done on their behalf by members of Britain’s oldest progressive shul.
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A Sudanese-born Muslim man who fled the war-torn state for a new life in Britain has risked his life for a second time to bring his wife and baby daughter to this country with the help of West London Synagogue.
Salih Adam, 35, who received UK citizenship this year, arrived at Heathrow this morning after completing a dangerous journey back to his homeland to rescue his wife Moram, 35, and 10-month-old Warif from the on-going civil war, which has seen more than one million people flee the country.
The family’s arrival in the UK comes as a result of the remarkable work done on their behalf by members of Britain’s oldest progressive shul, alongside others at a local mosque and nearby church.
Nic Schlagman, head of social action and interfaith at WLS, who has become friends with Salih since he was directed to the shul’s homeless shelter by a local charity in 2014, praised his “absolute bravery and determination” to be reunited with his family.
He also reflected on the historical fact that help, often from strangers, had saved countless Jewish families from being wiped out during the Holocaust.
Photograph by Elliott Franks
“Family members living in Germany at the time figured they could get my grandmother, who was five-years-old, out of a small town in Poland and onto a train to London to ensure her safety,” said Shlagman. “She was taken in and brought up by strangers in London who paid to do this themselves.
“I grew up in a household where we knew that the kindness of strangers was literally the only reason we were alive, when people around us wanted to kill us.
“Helping Salih and his family was not done out of self-interest but a sense that people in the world simply need our help. I feel a tremendous sense of pride that we have been able to complete a circle.”
Alongside other shul members, a group of volunteers had worked tirelessly to organise Salih’s risky route to his family, and their eventual journey back to the UK.
The family reunion was also made possible with the assistance of Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, renowned for her work in providing assistance to the Jews of Ethiopia, who provided a fixer for Salih as he risked his life on the border with Sudan to get passports to his wife and infant child.
Schlagman praised the Home Office, and staff at Labour leader Keir Starmer’s constituency office, near where Salih lives, for their critical help.
Schlagman also confirmed the Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK had also been supportive, as the family escaped the war-ravaged republic by flying out to the city of Jeddah, before catching a final flight to London.
Philanthropist Edwin Shuker, who chairs the Board’s of Deputies’ communities and education division, also had a key role in the mission’s success.
But Schlagman said: “Salih is the real hero in this story, someone who has travelled from Sudan, to Ethiopia, to Saudia Arabia to come home. What he has done is unbelievably brave. He has thrown himself into danger, just to be the best father and husband he could be.”
With his wife living at his mother’s home in Darfur, it took Salih two years to travel, first across Libya, then into Europe, and finally on a boat across the English channel before he would arrive in UK in 2014, with the promise of work through contacts to provide for his family he left behind.
Civil war in Darfur meant his life was at risk if he stayed there. Inside the WLS homeless shelter he was offered vital support, and shul members helped to pay for the doorman’s licence that allowed Salih to work.
At the time WLS shul members were also making monthly trips to Calais to help migrants in the “jungle” camps. Salih offered to volunteer on trips himself.
When Prince Charles visited WLS to celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2015, Salih was one of six people connected to the shul that he spoke with, as the future King praised the social action work of the institution.
Moving to council accommodation in Camden, Salih has continued to do voluntary work for the shul.
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