MISERABLE TIME AT SCHOOL HELPED TO SHAPE FEARLESS CHARITY WORKER

IT TAKES a very special type of person to be a charity worker, fearlessly and selflessly putting lothers' needs in front of their own, and sometimes it can take a very poignant reason to pursue this work.

- STEPHANIE COLDERICK

This is the case for Marjie Halati who is an incredible women and has her own personal reasons for dedicating her life helping refugees and marginalised women.

Marjie, who is from Iran, spent two years of her life in boarding school in Rhyl and it was this experience that shaped her into becoming the fearless and determined charity worker she is.

While Marjie, who is also a psychologist, did not have a positive time in Wales, hating being so far away from home and unable to have any control over her own life, it made her inexplicably who she is. Aged 60, Marjie has devoted her life and her work to helping refugees and marginalised women.

She successfully ran an organisation, called Omid, which means hope in Farsi, in Iran for years before it was shut down and raided by the Iranian government in 2022.

This meant Marjie lost her charity and life's work overnight and is una-ble to ever return to Iran. Now she continues to help refugees, and her story is told in the BBC documentary Finding Hope, which was made by Welsh-Iranian film maker Sara Nour-izadeh.

Marjie explained to Wales On Sunday how her childhood in Wales shaped her into who she is today.

She said: "Not to have a voice or choice to be sent to Wales, to boarding school... for me, as a little girl of 11, it was like being uprooted and not having a choice.