They never thought the war would come to their door and destroy their idyllic family life in Syria.

But the conflict that began in 2011 escalated and siblings Omar and Rand lived through its horrors before they were rescued to begin a new life in Tenterden.

“Our home was perfect, it was like a doll’s house,” said Rand, 16, who has told the story of their struggles to KentOnline this week.

“We had everything we needed, family close by and our farm with dogs, sheep, cows and birds."

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The Homewood School teenager was a child when her parents briefly stepped out to her aunt's next door, leaving her momentarily minding her younger brother Omar and twin babies Asem and Ali.

That’s when the sound of gunfire and explosions shattered the calm of their peaceful existence in Katana, Syria.

Her dad returned to the house with a cut to his head, blood trickling down.

It was the beginning of a nightmare for the family who soon had to leave the home they loved, first moving to Rand’s grandmother’s house and then fleeing to a single room where all six of them were forced to exist.

The Syrian army took Rand’s father Nader for questioning and, left without his wages as a blacksmith. the family went hungry and thirsty.

Later soldiers would barge through their front door in the early hours searching for weapons that Rand and her mother did not have.

One day a bomb landed on Rand’s school leaving many of her friends dead.

Rand had been on her way home when she heard the explosion and saw the curl of thick black smoke rising from the burning building.

Rand’s father eventually returned home and began searching for a safe haven for his family.

He travelled to Lebanon to find work and a home where the family were later reunited, only to face more hardship.

At first Nader earned just £10 a month and they scratched a living growing vegetables to survive, before he found a job that provided them with a home and an income of £40 per month.

Rand and her brother Omar could at last go to school but they were treated less favourably than the Lebanese children.

“We had to go to school at night-time and clean the classrooms.” said Rand.

“One day I was beaten with a cane on my hand and it went blue, but we couldn’t afford to go to the hospital."

Syrian children were also forced to take their shoes and socks off and were beaten on the soles of their feet for trivial reasons, she said.

School life was particularly terrifying for Syrian girls and Rand said: “Lebanese boys used to wait outside of our school and kidnap Syrian girls. We do not know where they were taken and we never saw them again.”

Nader’s boss stopped paying him, and lacking the bus fare, Rand braved the four-hour return journey to school on foot.

“It wasn’t safe to walk on the roads as the boys kept threatening me,” she said.

The family were offered a lifeline under the British government’s Syrian vulnerable persons relocation programme.

Nader was in hospital at the time with an injured back caused by the heavy manual labour he had been forced to undertake.

"Every day we were waiting for the phone to ring to say it was time to leave," said Rand.

Even as they were preparing to leave, Nader's boss tried to prevent him from going, forcing them to flea to a cousin's house.

When the family got on the plane they had nothing but the clothes on their backs. They had lost their beloved home, the family business and their car.

Exhausted they arrived in Tenterden at night-time.

"We slept in our comfortable beds we were so tired," Rand said.

"When we awoke we saw our beautiful surroundings in Tenterden. Lots of people came to visit us and make us feel welcome."

Rand and her brother Omar, 14, started school in Tenterden in 2015 and as the only Arabic speakers at Homewood.

Rand said she felt isolated despite the warm welcome of the teachers, but now the brave teenager who is excelling in English and making friends wants to tell her story.

A short animated film was made about the siblings' journey by SCREEN31 and screened at the Gulbenkian in Canterbury for Refugee Week (June 18-24).

It can be viewed on YouTube by searching for The Story of Rand and Omar.

Rand said: "The war still continues in Syria and every day people are still dying. I just want people to know that what happened to us is not our fault."