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“one of my best workers, without a doubt”

Employer: Oriel College, Oxford

I have been working with Gezim since I joined the College as Housekeeper in July 2007. Gezim is always polite, obliging, punctual and hardworking, and I feel he is very grateful for the life he has in England. He gets on well with his colleagues, never complains and takes great pride in the outcomes of his work. Gezim is one of my best workers, without a doubt.

Employee: Gezim, Cleaner

I am very happy. Every day I work as a cleaner at Oriel College, Oxford. I clean inside and outside the buildings. The students are always polite and say thank you and the other people in the College are all very nice, very friendly.

I grew up in Kosovo. For seven years I was a shepherd, looking after about 70 sheep. Then I worked for five years, guarding a shop at night. For three years I had to do National Service in the army and after that I worked on a farm. But when the war in Kosovo started I had to escape with my family.

We travelled on a lorry and came to the UK. It felt good at first, being in a country with big buildings where most of the people were friendly. But I was an asylum seeker and it was hard because I was not allowed to work. For four years I helped my wife look after our children. One of them was sick and we often had to take him to hospital in London. Every day I went to the Community English School in Oxford to learn English. My wife got pregnant and we had another child. We both felt very tired but our life was better than in Kosovo where I would have been shot.

In 2004 I was given refugee status, which meant we could all stay in the UK and I could get a job. I was so happy. I went to Refugee Resource and they taught me about finding a job. I learned how to fill in forms, how to use the computer and how to go to interviews. I tried for fifteen jobs but I had no references and no passport, and I was not successful.

Without a job I felt I was no good but I kept learning English every day, I kept collecting my children from school every day and I kept hoping. I applied for a job at Oriel College. Then I had an interview and I got the job. I want to stay at Oriel College forever.