Sanctuary scholars named in Big Issue’s top changemakers

By Helen Ball

FIRST thing on a Monday morning earlier this year, some of the Exodus Team had the pleasure of meeting two sanctuary scholarship students from Warwick University who have been named on The Big Issue’s 100 Changemakers of 2024 List.

The list celebrates the people and organisations who are creating positive change and serves as a tribute to people who have focused not on themselves, but on the community.

Warwick’s Sam Pordale, 23, and Angel Nakhle, 20, have been recognised for their work on the national campaign ‘lift the ban’ which advocates for asylum seekers to be given the right to work, and their service as youth advocates for Refugee Education UK.

They also volunteer with Student Action for Refugees (STAR) and are members of the Mentor Programme that helps
asylum seekers with their university
applications.

Sam is in his first year studying Politics and International Studies. He came to the UK in 2022 as an asylum seeker from Afghanistan and was given a sanctuary scholarship from the university to start his course in September 2023. 

Sam is a member of an English teaching programme at STAR that helped him when he first came to the UK. He now volunteers at migrant centres and provides emotional support, alongside Maths and English tutoring.

Sam said: “For asylum seekers, getting into university is really hard. I want to change that and help education be more accessible. Seeing two refugees as part of this list shows that if we’re given the same opportunities we can make a difference and change the narrative of how we are perceived.”

Angel was 12 years old when she and her family came to the UK from Lebanon and is currently in her second year studying Law with French Law. She got involved with the charity Stories of Hope and Home before coming to Warwick, and then started to help with Refuge Education UK and STAR in her first year, helping asylum seekers get into higher education.

Angel said: “The groups that I work with have given me a platform to use my voice and feel heard and I want to motivate more people to come forward and be advocates to make a difference. I never thought that the work I do for my community would ever get this recognition, but it shows that these small steps and getting involved do matter.”

Angel said she feels there is a disconnect between the preconceived assumptions promoted by some parts of the media and the current government; her personal experience is that ‘everyone has been so welcoming’.

Sam said he was ‘not expecting people to be so nice’. As ‘most people haven’t met an asylum seeker’ and some don’t see them ‘as humans’, Angel said they are very keen to share their story to give ‘inspiration, show the way and allow others to feel hope’.

The Exodus team were so impressed by Sam and Angel. Both are ambitious for their futures, citing hopes and dreams where they use their higher education to give back to communities and support others to access opportunities.

We all commented that it was a fantastic way to start the week, to hear from these inspirational people who are and will give so much to the world.

We are fortunate to have them in our country.