THE past is a different country. They do things differently there. The past is Algeria and the trauma that cannot be spoken, may even be unspeakable, certainly before casual inquirers.

The present is Glasgow, cold on a traditional December day, but warm in its embrace for Inaam. She is a 30-year-old mother of a three-year-old. She is a dedicated, hard-working student. She is a refugee.

She sits high above the city that is now her home and reflects with an extraordinary gentleness, a distinct lack of drama on how life has changed.

Inaam said: “When I came to the United Kingdom I felt my life was over. I reached that point, yes. I sometimes wanted to die. It seemed the only escape from the hell I was living,” Inaam is not her real name. It has been changed to protect her anonymity. Similarly, the circumstances that forced her to flee her homeland are not discussed.

It is enough to know that there was once desperate anguish and there is now joy. Her daughter was the original catalyst. This is a story of life, after all. But Glasgow was the stage.

This is also a story of how people not only make Glasgow but make the lives of other people. It is a tale of how Inaam continues to overcome struggles but is also a chronicle of how anonymous people all over the city did something to help her, her daughter, or any one of the up to 100 refugees arriving in the city every month.

Inaam, too, serves as a cipher to Refuweegee, the charity with the gallus name and the pure dead brilliant purpose. She also points to the importance of organisations such as Celtic FC Foundation, the official charitable arm of a club set up to provide food for the needy. More than 100 years later, the Foundation serves to honour that instruction by Celtic’s founder, Brother Walfrid.

However, first and crucially, there is Inaam. She sits in the communal area of a city college and whispers her explanation of how she survived. “I was fighting because of my daughter. She was pushing me. I wanted to make a life for her,” she says of arriving in Britain in January 2018 and then moving to Glasgow.

“I had no one,” she says. “No one. No family. No friends. I was scared. I didn’t even know Glasgow. I didn’t even go out. I didn’t even want to see the light.”

Much, of course, cannot fully be articulated. The trauma of the past, inflicted deep wounds but Inaam was gently warmed and nurtured by Glasgow and its people. She talks brightly of the help from her doctor, the close relationship with Refuweegee and a growing circle of friends and a narrowing of purpose.

“I feel like I am alive,” she says simply. “I slowly felt the doors opening and I felt I could see the light.”

The revelation was powerful. She added: “I am human. People here told me, ‘You have rights. You are a woman and you can say what you want’. I was really surprised. I have never felt love like the way I love here. I love Glasgow to bits, I love Scotland to bits. It gives me life. It gives my daughter life.”

Was there a moment when the pain of the past subsided and Inaam realised she was wondrously happy?

“I wake up the morning and I sometimes cry. It is from happiness,” she says. “I take deep breaths and say: “Thank you Scotland, thank you Glasgow.” I cannot fully express that happiness.”

Refuweegee was set up by Selina Hales in December 2015 to provide a warm welcome to forcibly displaced people arriving in Glasgow. The charity provides welcome packs for every refugee who arrives in the city and each pack contains three categories of items; essentials, Glasgow welcome and ‘letters from the locals’.

Selina said: “We are thrilled to be a beneficiary of Celtic FC Foundation’s Christmas Appeal again this year, it helps us and those we support enormously.”

Inaam now volunteers with Refuweegee and added: “I would do anything. I would like to help people. I talk to other refugees. I would like to tell them this can be the beginning of something new. I feel happy when I am helping. I see the tears of gratitude and know that was and is me.”

Refuweegee joins Loaves and Fishes, The Invisibles, Glasgow East Women’s Aid, St Roch’s FC Foundation, Elpis Centre, the Salvation Army Parkhead, St Anne’s Primary School, St Anne’s Church, the Cardinal Hume Centre, Simon Community Scotland, Spirit Aid, Glasgow Night Shelter, Women’s Aid Dublin, Women’s Aid Belfast and Lisburn, Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, Scottish Refugee Council and Glasgow's No.1 Baby and Family Support Service, as the Appeal beneficiaries announced so far.

To get behind the Christmas Appeal 2019, you can:

1. Donate by Text – text ‘CELTIC’ followed by ‘£1’, ‘£5’ or ‘£10’ to 70085*

2. Donate Online

3. Donate via PayPal – www.CelticChristmasAppeal.com

4. Donate in Cash – there are collection boxes located in all Celtic Stores

5. Donate by Cheque – payable to ‘Celtic FC Foundation’ and sent to Celtic FC Foundation, Celtic Park, Glasgow G40 3RE.

6. Provide support through your Christmas shopping via Give as you Live and Amazon Smile – http://www.celticfc.net/news/17086

8. Purchase the original song from this year’s Celtic Christmas advert, ‘Star Of Glasgow's Green & White’ HERE. Proceeds will support our 2019 Appeal.

Thank you for your magnificent support.

*Texts will cost the donation amount, plus one standard rate message.

Celtic FC Foundation Appeal Beneficiary: Refuweegee