Meet Azra

 

Azra Rasool is the Director at Refugee Alliance Integration UK CIC. She is a dedicated educator and community leader with over 30 years of experience, particularly focused on working with refugees, migrants, and marginalised women.

She started teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) in colleges as an unqualified teacher at just 17 to 18 years old. Though she initially resisted pursuing formal qualifications, life’s challenges, including caring for her sick father, raising children, and managing family responsibilities, shaped her path. Eventually, she completed her teaching degree and became a qualified teacher.

Azra’s work is deeply personal. As the daughter of refugees, she witnessed her parents struggle with language barriers, filling out forms, navigating health care, and supporting their children’s education. Her father especially encouraged her mother to learn English, which had a profound impact. Even during her mother’s final illness, her ability to read English enabled critical communication with doctors and nurses.

This personal experience inspired Azra to help others in similar situations, especially women from refugee backgrounds who face cultural, familial, and social barriers that often keep them isolated by offering safe, women-only spaces.

Azra said:

“I ran classes at schools where the women would drop off their kids and then come to me. The mothers and even mothers-in-law would come and watch to make sure there were no men around, that the windows were closed, and no one else was coming in. It took time to build that trust, especially since many families didn’t understand why the women needed to learn English or why it was important. That was a big barrier. But once they started coming to the classes, they relaxed — there was no pressure to take exams; they could just come in, have a chat, and share a coffee with me. In my mind, I wanted to improve the system because of what I saw happen with my own parents.”

To build practical skills, Azra has also developed wellbeing workshops, ESOL-friendly driving theory and food hygiene courses, helping people build confidence, find work and become self-sufficient.

“For me, it's getting them to be confident in themselves. Get out and find something that they are interested in, like the ladies are very good cooks, but their language barrier stops them to go and find work. Now what we've done is given them a food and hygiene course. They can go out, they can talk, they can speak in English, they know what ingredients they have to put in and they're working for small cafes. And that for me was yes!”

The biggest barriers people face

Azra explained:

“One of the biggest challenges is that you spend money on leaflets. Interpreting them in the grammar version when nobody can read it. People from places like Syria and Afghanistan, many have never had the opportunity to go to school, so they can't read that language that you're interpreting into. It doesn't work.”

 “For us as ESOL teachers we make it as simple as we can in simple English.
I'll give you an example where Mum was diagnosed with cancer and they gave me a big leaflet, I as a teacher I didn't understand those words. So how do you expect a person who's got cancer to understand it? This is where we come in, we make everything available at their level. That’s why we work so well in the community where verbal, visual, and face-to-face communication is much more effective.”

People face many barriers, including trust issues due to past trauma, making familiar faces and consistency crucial.

Stigma, especially around mental health and cultural misunderstandings about health, education, or food highlight the need for clear, respectful communication. Institutional systems often assume people can navigate forms or online services, which isn’t always the case.

Finally, the lack of face-to-face contact in remote systems can create frustration, while in-person support helps build real connection.

Unfortunately, Azra’s most recent and personal challenge has been the loss of funding, placing her vital community work at serious risk. Despite this she remains passionate and determined to continue making a difference, knowing that trust and familiarity are key to supporting refugee and immigrant communities.

Azra views education not as a transactional process, but as a transformational journey, aiming to foster self-sufficiency, dignity, and a strong sense of voice among the people she supports.

In Azra’s words “When they achieve, you achieve!”

Page last updated: 14 May 2025