The International Organisation for Migration is the UN’s agency charged with helping refugees who have been approved for resettlement with cultural adjustment before they are flown to their new homes. In a workshop evening session on 21 February, IOM trainers Meredith and Ahmed explained how little time they were given for this and the enormous and very basic differences resettling refugees had to grasp in only ten hours of acculturation. Focussed on Syria, this was an opportunity for volunteers, as the hosts to resettling Syrian refugees, to find out about some of these problems, from attitudes to involvement in schooling and expectations of medical care, to food, traditions and manners. It was a very useful and interesting evening and we hope that the IOM will run more of these workshops in the future.