Baladi - Coverage
Yara Al Adib 29-year-old succeeded to make her business ‘From Syria With Love’, blossomes from a street-food market stall into a fully-fledged enterprise able to feed up to 800 people at a time, in a suburb of Antwerp, with an 'all female refugees from Syria' team.
Yara, a Syrian-born refugee who grew up in Kuwait, had the idea of a catering business while wondering how best to help the many new arrivals to Belgium in the summer of 2015. From her own experience, she knew work would be a vital ingredient in their economic and social integration.
“Working is a way to feel useful again,” said Yara, whose academic background helped her land a consulting job not long after she was granted asylum in Belgium in 2014.
“It’s a feeling that you are contributing, it gives you purpose. That makes you feel good, that you’re not just a burden but you can give back somehow.”
Yara decided to focus her efforts on housewives, who would find it hardest to adjust socially and find work. The key, she was sure, was cooking, a skill that most Syrians take for granted but which could be put to good use in a catering business.
Yara says the project, which has attracted an army of supporters, has struck a chord with Belgians keen to welcome newcomers but unsure of how to help. At the same time, it sends a strong message that refugees can help each other and contribute to their host communities.
Source: UNHCR