‘I’ve been to many cities in Ireland but Cork is always my favourite’

When Khaled Azrag lived in direct provision he would wake up each morning, pull on his jogging gear and set out on a run, taking his usual route from the Kinsale Road accommodation centre towards Cork airport. He kept up this daily routine not only to keep fit but to clear his mind of the stress and anxiety he had carried since leaving Sudan in 2008.

“I’d go to the park as well to try and keep fit and I played a lot of football. I tried to be outside as much as possible, not spend too much time inside. It helped me not to think about my situation in a negative way but look at things more positively. If you think about what you’ve gone through too much, you will destroy yourself, so I pushed all those negative thoughts away through sport.”

He does not like going into the details of the journey that brought him from the Darfur region, through north Africa and across Europe to Ireland. When he left his home country in 2008, Darfur had already been ravaged by the civil war between rebel forces and government for five years. The conflict would go on to leave 300,000 people dead and displaced more than 2.5 million others, according to the UN.

Azrag was born into a family of 10. He followed in his father’s footsteps and worked as a truck driver before he left Sudan. “It was a good upbringing; there was a lot of love. But then later in Sudan there was a lot of war. All people wanted was to get out of the country. I left for a better life.”

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The first months in Ireland were a learning experience. It was a bit of hell

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Eventually, as his English started improving, he ventured out and began playing football, where he met other sports enthusiasts from Cork city

Azrag says he didn’t choose Ireland, he just wanted to get to Europe and ended up here. He arrived into where he thinks was Rosslare harbour in December 2008. He didn’t speak any English and was tired and confused after weeks of travelling.

He was eventually advised to travel to Dublin, where he claimed asylum. He spent his first two months in the now-closed Hatch Hall direct provision centre before being moved to the Cork accommodation centre on Kinsale Road.

“It’s hard to describe that time. I was just very cold all the time, I didn’t have many warm clothes. I couldn’t speak the language so I didn’t go anywhere but in the end I found other people who spoke Arabic.”

Leave to remain

He found it hard spending so much time in direct provision but also felt lucky to have a place to stay. Eventually, as his English started improving, he ventured out and began playing football, where he met other sports enthusiasts from Cork city.

“I met lots of people through sport and did three Cork marathons. Sometimes when you think about your life, it brings you down. But sport helped me push those thoughts away.”

He ended up spending seven years in direct provision and was eventually given leave to remain in Ireland in 2015. Shortly before leaving the centre, he completed a fitness course which qualified him to work as a personal trainer. Once he had his papers and had found a place to live, he found part-time work in a gym and started building a list of clients who liked his approach towards exercise and fitness. Within two years he had set up his own business in a small gym in Cork city centre.

“It was really tough at first but I needed to believe in myself. And I did. I started with one client and I built it from there. Anybody who trained with me straight away recommended someone else. I wasn’t that good at advertising but they did the work for me.

“I trained a lot of people – men and women – and when I walked through the city I’d meet a lot of them. At one point there were more women in my class than men. I think women have a very strong mind when it comes to training. If they want something, they set their mind on it and make it happen.”

He also met, fell in love with and married a French woman who had also made Cork her home

By this point, Azrag had also fallen in love with the city. “I loved it. I loved cycling up and down the hills and the people are so nice and generous. I’ve been to many cities in Ireland but Cork is always my favourite. Plus, the city is very pretty.”

He also met, fell in love with and married a French woman who had also made Cork her home. He had left behind a partner in Sudan but discovered a few years after arriving in Ireland that she had moved on and met someone else. “She was tired of waiting for me, she wanted to live her life, so I had to move on as well.”

Pandemic struggles

Azrag really struggled during the pandemic. He kept up his fitness classes through Facebook Live sessions and built a small gym in his back garden but he missed interacting with clients. Last year he started rebuilding his business and last October launched classes in CrossFit, boxing and capoeira at his Blue Nile Lifestyle fitness centre, which also offers yoga and dance classes. The rent is expensive but Azrag is optimistic that his client base will continue to grow.

“If you have a dream you have to work hard to keep it going. I’m willing to work and I have to be patient. I have to make sacrifices for now.”

"I get to see her every day; we spend a lot of time together. She's my angel and I love watching her grow up here"

Azrag is now living with his 17-year-old son, Hamid, whom he brought to Ireland through family reunification three years ago. He also has a daughter with his ex-partner in Sudan but she was born after he left and they have never met. Like his father, Hamid struggled to speak English at first but has now settled into Irish life. “The day he arrived he just looked at me and said, ‘Dad’. I’m so happy to have him here, I want him to have more opportunities. I hope he can make Ireland his home as well.”

Azrag has applied for Irish citizenship and also has a daughter in Cork with a new partner. “I get to see her every day; we spend a lot of time together. She’s my angel and I love watching her grow up here.”

He says his goal is to motivate other people to “live a better life ... I’ve learned that every person has a chance to make of themselves whatever they want. I’m just trying to help people to go in the right direction, move to a better place and look after themselves.”