THEIR governments have been at loggerheads for decades, but a Swindon-based Israeli and Iranian refugee found they had more in common.

Former air hostess Roksana Samiee and business analyst Marina Strinkovsy, both 45, were brought together by innovative project Room for All. It sees refugees given free lodgings in Swindon homes.

Roskana, who visited scores of cities across the world working for IranAir, claimed asylum in the UK after her politics saw her fall out with the Iranian government.

Twice turned down by the Home Office, the Christian woman’s claim was eventually upheld by a judge in November last year. Around 70 friends came to her Newport hearing last year, bringing tears to Roksana’s eyes.

But her asylum win resulted in her being given notice on her Home Office housing: “After a month I got a letter saying I needed to leave my accommodation. I was anxious.”

Rather than finding herself on the streets, Roksana found a new flatmate - and a woman she now describes as her sister.

She is one of those housed through the innovative Room for All project. Managed by Swindon City of Sanctuary, it sees residents in the town put up refugees in their homes. To date, a dozen people have been housed through the scheme.

Her new host, Marina Strinkovsky, 45, was an Israeli. There were fears it could have posed a problem. Both nuclear powers, Israel and Iran have long been enemies. But the pair shared none of that anger. “Our governments’ problems are different,” said Roksana, who lived in capital Tehran until she threw herself on the mercy of the UK government on a stopover flight to London.

Marina herself is no stranger to the kind of challenges faced by Roksana. She describes herself as a fifth generation refugee. A Jew, her family fled Tsarist persecution in Russia in the early 20th century and Marina and her parents escaped the Soviet Union in the 1970s for safety in Israel.

The HR consultant, who has lived in Swindon for 15 years, said: “This is my past, this is my plight, this is my life.”

She had been looking for a way to support the cause of refugees in Swindon and further afield, but a busy job left her stuck for time. The Room for All programme suited her: “I have a spare room and I’m absolutely fine for someone to stay in it.” The only condition for any housemate was that they get along with Marina’s Jack Russell-cross, Lola.

Moving in day was not without its challenges, Marina said: “Roksana was a few hours late turning up, because the people who were helping her move turned up with one small car and it turned out that she had two large cars worth of stuff and my flat is not very big. But it was fine.”

Roksana brought a stack of pots and pans with her and the pair would sometimes eat together. Marina said: “Occasionally we met over amazing Iranian food, but essentially we lived pretty independent lives, respecting each others’ privacy. It worked out perfectly.”

Marina would recommend the Room for All scheme to others: “Roksana was vetted and interviewed and Swindon City of Sanctuary matched us almost like a matchmaking service. We had all of this support.”

Refugees are generally resilient, she added. But potential hosts need to be confident enough to let someone into their home: “Give yourself permission to do it. Recently, three of us went to help refugees in Calais. Anybody can do that. Any middle class white person living in Swindon can afford to go to Calais for the weekend. You just need to give yourself permission to be the kind of person who does that.”

“People think they should feel really virtuous on the inside, that they should find some wellspring of amazingness inside of them before they’re allowed to do something like that. But you should just do it, because it makes you feel good and it’s useful.”

Roksana moved out in May and now lives in a shared house with three others. She said: “First I want to improve my English and then get good job, get a partner and have a family.”

Marina and keen cook Roksana remain good friends. But the three months the pair spent living together hasn’t convinced host Marina of some things.

Asked if she’s taken on any of Roksana’s recipes, Marina joked: “If I start cooking rice in the Iranian way rather than my family’s way generations of grandmothers will spin in their graves. I’m not allowed to do that. You can’t just change how you cook rice.”

NATALIE NORTH, Swindon City of Sanctuary coordinator, explains what the Room for All scheme is about.

Anybody can be a host in Swindon. As long as you have a spare bedroom with a bed in it, you can become a host. Room for All is aimed at those who are destitute. We support new refugees, but we also support migrants who can’t access council services.

The programme is about short term hosting, between six weeks and two months. It’s a temporary solution until we can find supported housing through the council or charities like Emmaus. We’re reducing homelessness in Swindon.

The pilot project last May and was launched full-time in January. Since then, we’ve helped around a dozen people.

For hosts, they are doing something for their community. It’s a really good cultural exchange. Most of our hosts and their guests stay in contact. They make a friend for life.

The host and their guest each get a support worker. For the guest, it’s a great way for them to understand what it’s like to live in an English house and we see their English skills dramatically improve.

We also give free bus passes to the guests, match-funded by Swindon Bus Company. For one former IT consultant who fled his home country it meant he could get to his workplace and to job interviews. He’s now earning a good salary back in IT.

For more, visit: swindon.cityofsanctuary.org/projects/roomforall.