A REFUGEE who escaped violence in the Sudan is now helping others find a home in Newport.

Mamoun Bashir, 49, took his family and fled his home country of Sudan seven years ago after threats of violence and conflict in the area, to find a better life in the UK.

And despite the stress of his ongoing asylum claim, Mr Bashir trained as an advisor and is now doing full-time volunteer work for The Displaced People in Action Associaton (DPA), helping others find refuge.

Despite missing his birthplace and the parents he was forced to leave behind, Mr Bashir says Newport soon felt like his new home.

He remembers the welcoming arrival he was given when he moved to Gwent in 2005.

"Everyone was so nice and friendly," he said.

"It was so different to my home country."

When talking about Sudan, he says, "I do miss it, but just didn't feel safe there.

"There was the constant threat of war and fighting."

He left his parents behind when he moved to Britain and is still consdidering returning to see them.

"My parents are still over there, so it feels like my heart has been split.

"One part is over with them and the other here with me in Newport."

He now lives in Balmoral Road, Newport, with his wife Mahasin Khalil and three sons Mohand 19, Moyied 17 and Mohammed 16.

Even though he finds it hard to juggle volunteer work and his family, he says it is his wife who provides the motivation for him to keep going and said the desire to study was a driving force in his life.

Now at nearly 50, Mr Bashir is currently studying for a Finance Diploma, equivalent to A Level, and this week won an Inspire Adult Learner award.

Mr Bashir said: "Against the odds I have managed to go back to learning and gain skills I have already begun to put into practice."