Our Stories:
Meet Rulan

“For about six, seven months when I first moved to Seacroft I was quite lonely here.  My Syrian friends all live close to the city centre.  I found it really difficult to go meet them; I don’t drive. I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t feel like going out.  

We went to the park one day and there was LS14 Trust/Fall Into Places’s Playbox sessions and the children really enjoyed it. I always wanted to be involved in the community and they helped me become part of this place. I’ve made new friends and my children do all the activities here. They’ve been so helpful and it’s amazing here; I love the community! 

‘From Syria to Seacroft’ was a project we did at Fall Into Place.  I told my story, about my journey. My husband made the difficult journey from Syria. It was dangerous and it took him over two and a half months. To stay in Syria meant losing our lives, we didn’t really have a choice. Our daughter and I joined him a year later. The project was so people can know more about Syria. They just see the pictures and on TV, which is really different to reality.   

We provided all kinds of creative activities and food, all related to Syria. My children were really excited, they found out new things about their culture as well. People were grateful for finding about more about a different culture.” 

Fall Into Place Theatre bring different generations together through drama groups and workshops, preventing and reduce social isolation across all ages. The Leeds Fund Strategic Resilience Grants provided multi-year funding to provide key support during the pandemic, as well as giving them capacity to reflect upon the direction of their work, building resilience in their funding and operating models.