Fatima Darwish (24, F) - a refugee stranded at the airport

Fatima is a villager in eastern Syria whose life has been upended from the war. Even as the conflict raged around her, she was always one to keep her head up and maintain hope for the future.

One day, as British forces were stationed near her village, she was able to smuggle in an asylum application, and fill it out with the help of a soldier even though she didn't speak English. When the troops left, Fatima forgot all about the incident until a few months later, when police officers told her that she would be receiving a visa and needed to board a plane for Gatwick in the morning.

Fatima packed all her worldly possessions in her suitcase, and kissed her family goodbye as they wished her luck, promising to send them money back from England when she could. She dressed lightly, wearing only her hijab and jilbab - it was hot in the summer, so anything extra was out of the question. Checking her bags and satisfied with her appearance, she slept on the flight as it cruised uneventfully to London. When they landed, Fatima's neighbor woke her up and she looked out to see the multitude of people on the runway.

Fatima had sat all the way at the back, meaning she was the last person off the plane onto the jetway. Stepping off the plane, she was enamored with the sights and didn't notice the flight crew closing the airplane door just behind her. She soon felt the consequences as she stepped forward and, after a couple of seconds of struggle, heard her jilbab rip completely off her!

Turning around in shock and seeing her jilbab stuck in the crevices of the door as the plane pulled out of the gate, Fatima had **** but to cover up and run down the jetway - and into the gate with so many people!

She remembered the map of the airport she had been given before she left, unfolding it and strategically using it to cover herself from everyone's prying eyes. She looked down at what she was told "baggage claim" would be - and promptly sped off to the carousel wearing nothing but her hijab and her map. There she saw some of the other people from her plane, some of whom were taking their bags, and waited for her own suitcase to appear. Waiting for minutes upon minutes upon minutes, even after everyone else from her plane left, she didn't see her suitcase but stayed by the carousel hoping against hope that it would be there. She was in a new land where she didn't speak the language, after all, and being butt naked was a bad way to start her new life!

After a while, however, new bags and new people started showing up, so Fatima could only speed off to customs and immigration to clear everything up and hopefully get dressed. Little did she know how long she would be staying at Gatwick...