A REFUGEE who had to flee to Newport from the war-torn Middle East has spoken about the warm welcome he has received since coming to Wales.

Oscar Ali and his family are of Kurdish descent and lived in the city of Al-Qamishli – which is half in Turkey and half in Syria – but he left after the region was plunged into chaos in March 2011.

The 21-year-old arrived in the UK in June last year and was taken to Cardiff, before being moved to Newport about 20 days later.

“When we were there [in Al-Qamishli] we always thought it would finish this year or next year but it didn’t finish,” he said.

“In the end I had to leave, I couldn’t continue my life there.

“If I had stayed I would be dead.”

Mr Ali said he had tried hard to find work and was eventually offered a job at Marks and Spencer in Friars Walk.

“I was looking for work every day,” he said.

“I had to fill in a form online to try for a job at Marks and Spencer and I didn’t understand it, so I went down to the Job Centre to get them to help me.

“I would not leave until they helped me. I was there for three hours

“In the end I filled in the form than they gave me the interview and I got the job.”

He said he enjoys his new job, which involves opening and closing the shop and taking deliveries and was pleased by how friendly people he had met had been.

“I feel like I’ve been welcomed,” he said.

“I try and keep busy.

“People are friendly and welcoming.

“I can say bore da (hello) and hwyl fawr (good bye) already.”

Mr Ali, who was studying engineering before he was forced to leave his home, is now planning on beginning study again in September and is working to improve his English. He is also hoping to take up music lessons, having brought his violin with him.

“I try and be positive,” he said. “If I think about things too much I stay in one place.

“I try and focus on the good things.”

He said he hoped he would be reunited with his family. His mother and sister are currently in Turkey and his brother is still in Syria. His father travelled to Germany, but has since died.

“If the war stops I’d like to go back and rebuild again,” he said.

“It’s good here and the people are nice, but home is always home.

“I would like to go back one day.”

Statistics released in January show Newport has the eighth-highest number of asylum seekers per person in the UK.

Head of Oxfam Cymru Carys Thomas said councils in Wales had been “painfully slow” in putting plans in place to welcome refugees.

“With each day that passes lives are at risk so we need to pull together and ensure that all Welsh authorities speed up this process as a priority and make it clear to the Home Office that they are ready to resettle their fair share,” she said.

But Newport West MP Paul Flynn has said the city has “coped magnificently” with welcoming and integrating refugees.