WHEN Mohammad Hassan Noparvar arrived in Swindon in January he knew nobody.

Alone, in an unfamiliar town, he turned to the Harbour Project for help.

There he was able to take part in English classes and a cooking course – but, more importantly, it was where he found people willing to welcome him and to give him friendship.

Mohammad, who goes by his middle name Hassan, spent 20 years teaching history and geography to college students in his native Iran. That was until the dangers faced by academics who dared to stray beyond the accepted narrative of the state became too great.

Many of his peers are languishing in Iranian prison cells just for what they said in the classroom and it was a risk 46-year-old Hassan was not willing to take anymore.

He fled to the UK, via Istanbul, arriving in September 2016. He claimed asylum and after a brief stay in Croydon, then in Cardiff, he was moved to Swindon.

Four months ago he got the news that every asylum seeker longs for – he was granted leave to remain and the stability and security to plan his future.

Now Hassan is giving something back. Along with learning language and culinary skills at the Harbour Project’s drop-in centre, he was also introduced to art for the first time. His talent and creative flair did not go unnoticed and he was asked to design the charity’s Christmas card for 2017.

“I was really grateful to be asked,” said Hassan, talking with the help of a translator.

“I had never done art before, but I found it was a way to relax, to take my mind away from everything that was going on. I missed my family, it was hard, but art helped.”

Hassan’s wife and eight-year-old son are still in Iran, but now that he has secured his leave to remain he hopes they will soon be able to join him in his new home.

Until then, the Harbour visitors and volunteers are like a second family.

“When I arrived here I had nobody,” said Hassan. “I used to come here every day to meet people. Here I was shown respect, people understood me.”

For Harbour volunteer Rachel Pryor, an artist and occupational therapist who leads the art programme, seeing a visitor’s work in print on the Christmas cards is a special moment.

“It’s a steep uphill climb to independence if you arrive with little English and no British qualifications,” she said.

“Art in the drop-in can be the beginning of being able to build some self-esteem because it allows the visitors to tell their stories, however traumatic, and to begin to express their hopes for the future.

“Everyone here brings their own cultural heritage and world view. As a volunteer it’s like going on an exciting world journey.”

The card design, featuring a dove symbolising peace with Hassan’s message written in Farsi and in English, came out of conversations in the art classes.

“His knowledge of Mesopotamian history, which he taught in Iran, has obviously influenced his profound reflections on the nature of humanity,” said Rachel.

“And his Farsi writing is beautiful.”

The cards come in four varieties, with the core design remaining the same but the message changing subtly alongside the colours.

A pack of eight costs £5, with all profits going to supporting the Harbour Project.

They can be purchased from the Harbour Project, behind St Luke’s Church, in Broad Street, on weekdays between 10am and 3pm, or from Los Gatos, in Devizes Road, Old Town, during opening hours.

For more information visit the website at www.harbourproject.org.uk