The UK is on course to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, and while many of these new arrivals look set to live in London or other large cities, a small minority are being deposited in distant rural pockets of the country. By focusing on the experiences of Hayat, a larger-than-life mother of five who's been settled in small-town Huntly, Aberdeenshire, I've tried to illustrate how the refugee integration process is faring away from the bright urban lights. And how even the best-intentioned plans can run into obstacles, from the usual language difficulties in parts of the UK with almost no Arabic-speakers, to radically different social mores. The Syrians and Scots alike haven't found it plain sailing. A consistent thread among many of the Syrians is that they would return home in a heartbeat were the war to end. But bit by bit Hayat and her family are adapting, even helping some of the town's other misfits by establishing a new cafe. I think this makes for an interesting, nuanced insight into what integration actually looks like in practice. Characters: Hayat - A larger-than-life mother of five that fled Homs Aya Haydar - A British-Lebanese artist from Hackney Marc Higgin - An anthropologist (with no Arabic skills) from Bristol Nicola - An unemployed local Huntly girl, and a regular at the "No. 11 Cafe" AbdulBary: Hayat's unmarried son

Aya Haidar's Lebanese roots as well as the history of the Middle East inform much of her multimedia practice. Based in London where she grew up, Haidar poses...

Aya Haidar was born in Lebanon and now lives and works in London. Aya completed her degree in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art UCL (2004-2008) and co...