Refugee family moved 35 miles away from school

Moheand has gone into debt buying a car after being relocated

A nine-year-old boy has described how he travels 70 miles to and from school every day after his refugee family was moved to a new town.

Riyad told BBC News NI he feared his family would be homeless forever.

He and his two siblings undertake the exhausting journey from a hotel in Newry to Belfast and back every day.

His father Moheand is now in debt, having borrowed money to buy a car and fund its running costs.

The father-of-three was a high-profile political activist in Sudan and left the country because his life was under threat.

He said he felt safe in Northern Ireland and looked forward to his family building their lives here.

The family had been settled in Belfast for five years while they waited for their asylum claim to be processed.

After they gained refugee status, responsibility for their accommodation shifted to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE).

They were moved out of Belfast, where the children already attended school.

At first they were sent more than 100 miles away to Belleek in County Fermanagh, where they stayed temporarily in a holiday chalet.

Then followed a short spell at a hotel in Enniskillen, before they were moved to the hotel in Newry where they have been staying for the last month.

Riyad and his dad Mohaend make the long round-trip every weekday, with two other children

In a statement, a spokesperson for the NIHE said: “We fully appreciate the level of disruption for children and their family when they are placed in temporary accommodation far from school, and these placements are only made in exceptional circumstances when there is no alternative.

“Demand for temporary accommodation is unprecedented and we are working hard to find solutions for thousands of households with a range of needs and circumstances.”

They said when placements were outside of areas of support or schools, they would “work to find more suitable accommodation at the earliest opportunity and continue to review these placements on a daily basis”.

The spokesperson added that demand for housing had been “unprecedented” and that there were “significant challenges” in sourcing temporary accommodation in the Belfast area.

Riyad often speaks to the NIHE on his family's behalf because he has the best English of them all

Riyad told the BBC: “I like my school but I’m worried a little bit [that] we’re going to get homeless or we’re not going to get a house forever.”

The boy, who started P5 last week, said the car journey to school was long and tiring.

He said he often fell asleep and that his siblings got car sick.

Riyad, who said he had spoken to the NIHE on his family’s behalf because his English is stronger, told the BBC he hoped to move back to Belfast.

“I like to see my friends,” he said.

“If I live far away I won’t see my friends and that would make my feelings sad.

“My one dream is to get a house beside my school. When we get our own house in Belfast, I would like to have a table for my own homework and purple lights.”

Riyad’s father Mohaend and his mother Ruqaya told the BBC they had concerns about moving the children out of their school.

They said they might be moved again and the one thing the children were used to was their school in Belfast.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mohaend said the system was “very difficult” and that he hoped the NIHE would “have some mercy” on his children.

He said he hoped for permanent accommodation closer to the school, to help his “exhausted” family.