Rabih was born in Beirut in the 1960s. At the age of 18 years, while the Lebanese Civil War raged on, he took the decision to follow friends to Sweden, where he began learning the language and working as a translator and later, teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies. He got married and began his family whilst living in Sweden, where his wife also worked alongside him as a teacher. Although he found that life in Sweden was relatively stress-free, he found it challenging trying to raise a Muslim family.

Rabih began thinking of moving to the UK after a positive visit to see friends who moved to Birmingham from Sweden. A couple of years later, he took the leap to move to Birmingham in 2006, where he established his restaurant, Bader, serving Lebanese cuisine on Coventry Road. Although he faced difficulties in setting up his new life in Birmingham, he is grateful to the friends he knew from Sweden who helped him to make his way: “they helped me a lot to establish … to find a house … to find schools and universities … they made life easy for me”.

Like several of the other participants who were interviewed, he was initially separated from his family while he worked on establishing his business and the children stayed behind with his to finish their stage of education. When his family joined him two years later, they were able to settle as a family starting school and university. His children began to get involved in activities such as Scouts and sports. Rabih and his family have close bonds with many families in Birmingham, particularly those he knows from his time in Sweden. Although he speaks fondly of the city, his favourite places are where he spends most of his time – his home and his business.