Click here to read the guardian article, "How Syrian refugee chef's London kitchen is helping Aleppo hospital", about Imad Alarnab. Imad was supported by Wycombe Refugee Partnership and went on to open a series of successful pop-up restaurants in London.
In the Syrian capital, he was on of the most famous chefs. But then came the war, tragedy and loss. In July 2015, he left Damascus in the night to make the long and perilous journey to England in search of a safer life for him and his family. He drove to Lebanon, flew to Turkey, took a boat to Greece – “there was 54 of us in a nine-person boat” – and walked to Macedonia and then Serbia and Hungary. In Calais, he and 13 other Syrians slept on a church step for 64 days.
When he arrived in the UK, he worked as a car salesman. But eventually he picked up his passion of cooking again. His latest restaurant, Imad's Choose Love Kitchen invites customers to “experience the true taste of Syria”. This time, Imad wanted to help people in need back home. All the profits from the restaurant are used to fund Hope Hospital, which has saved tens of thousands of lives in Aleppo.