Learning to ride a bike gave me hope in a new country

It was forbidden for women and girls in Nahla's culture to learn to ride bikes in Sudan

A little orange bike flies through a park, brightly coloured balloons bobbing around, tied onto the back.

Flowers sit in a makeshift basket at the front, and the background is full of bright colours.

It's a cheery scene. However, for 37-year-old Nahla Abdulla, it is much more than that.

Nahla arrived in Glasgow after fleeing the war ravaging her home country of Sudan.

It was during the pandemic - a time of restrictions not introductions.

For six months, having left all of her family in Sudan, she couldn't connect with anyone else from the Sudanese community here, and she felt very alone.

Then she discovered cycling.

"In my culture in Sudan, it's forbidden for girls to cycle." she says.

"I thought just learning to do it would be a good challenge. But it helped get a sense of belonging, I saw there were many things to see in this city, many beautiful buildings, and it pushed me to go out".

This was the spark that turned her life around in Scotland, and that's why she chose that brightly-coloured model of a bicycle to put in her Box of Hope.

Nahla is one of a group of refugees and asylum seekers who have taken part in the Box of Hope exhibition at the city's Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries.

For the Mental Health Foundation project, each created a carefully painted and collated box to depict what makes them feel hopeful.

Singing, appreciating trees and nature, taking comfort from faith, all are represented among the different decorated boxes.

Nahla's box contains her sign of hope - a bicycle

It was the charity - Sunny Cycles in Glasgow - which helped Nahla to get pedalling.

They run sessions to encourage a whole range of people to start enjoying life on two wheels, including sessions for asylum seekers.

But to see how that little helping hand was so pivotal for Nahla, has been humbling and touching for Sunny Cycles project manager, Carol Thompson.

She speaks emotionally about Nahla's artwork.

"It's so heartwarming to know that that is the impact you had on someone, and as a group that's what we can do for someone , and we can help other people do it as well," she says.

Carol Thompson

Nahla says learning to ride a bike helped to give her back her confidence in herself, helped her make friends and find a community.

Nahla was granted refugee status and is now working for a charity helping other women from ethnic minority backgrounds.

She is not shy about shouting about the benefits of getting out on a bike, and encourages the women she supports to try it.

"It made me happier, it helps physically and mentally and emotionally".

That is the power of a new skill in a strange land. That is why that model of a little orange bicycle is Nahla's beacon of hope.