Care4Calais: Welcoming refugees into our community

“You are the first person to smile at my face since I left my mother”

In this talk Sam, along with a friend with recent lived experience of the UK's asylum system, will talk about the realities of displacement, the challenges of navigating Home Office bureaucracy, the trauma caused by hostile policies and the work done by direct aid volunteers here in Reading. She will answer commonly posed questions and dispel frequently repeated myths.

Each refugee's story is different, but they share the common goals of living in safety and the hope of giving back to the country that has offered them refuge. By sharing information and humanising refugee stories we hope to aid integration and well-being for all community members, however long they have lived here.

When refugees first arrive in the UK it can be bewildering for them. Navigating a new country and a foreign language is an overwhelming challenge, made worse if you have no money and feel scared and alone. Sam Jonkers is a volunteer with Care4Calais, a volunteer-led refugee charity delivering essential aid and support to asylum seekers and refugees living in the local area. Care4Calais believes in a fair and tolerant British society and advocates for a welcoming and inclusive attitude towards refugees.

Volunteers meet up with refugees to provide a friendly face and helping hand, collecting and distributing essential items, assisting with paperwork and practical tasks, with the aims of Befriending, Empowering, Advocating and Campaigning. Unable to work and living on just £9.95 per week in isolation of mass accommodation sites, trauma and stress are often exacerbated by the system.

Those who seek asylum in the UK have many hurdles to overcome, facing many barriers to integration and a hostile environment. Recent policies aimed at creating a hostile environment, such as the Rwanda Policy and language which scapegoats migrants have been linked to the cause of last summer's riots and community tensions. Care4Calais has been at the forefront of leading campaigns promoting refugee rights such as the Stop Rwanda campaign and the campaign to close camps on military sites and barges.

For more information: https://care4calais.org