Berkshire charity wants people 'to think' about refugees
Reading Refugee Support Group wants to get people thinking about the challenges refugees face
A Berkshire charity is holding a week of events and challenges to raise awareness of the situation facing refugees in the county.
The Reading Refugee Support Group is organising the programme and the ‘Seven Actions for Seven Days’ challenge to coincide with Refugee Week, which aims to celebrate refugee cultures, strength, and creativity.
Events planned include a football tournament, a screening of the award-winning documentary Sky and Ground, and a Q&A session featuring Labour life peer and former refugee Lord Alf Dubs.
Nick Harborne, CEO of the Reading Refugee Support Group, says he hopes the programme “will get people thinking about refugees, and taking actions to help those living in their community.”
"A fantastic role model for refugees"
One of the people the charity has helped is Alice Mpofu-Coles, who became a refugee in Reading having left her family behind in Zimbabwe.
Mr Harborne says: “She’s fought for her rights, fought for other asylum seekers, fought for other refugees. She’s studied at Reading University, she trained as a social worker, and she’s recently become a Labour councillor for Whitley,” a seat on Reading Borough Council.
“She’s a fantastic role model for all refugees, and proves that it’s a myth that people are trying to get to this country for benefits and for housing. They’re not.
“Most asylum seekers want to work, and they want to contribute and be part of this wonderful place we call Reading and West Berkshire.”
But Mr Harborne recognises that the experience of refugees can be mixed. He says some refugees arrive in the country through the Syrian refugee resettlement programme, which is safe and supported by the government.
“People who arrive in boats and lorries have a very different experience. If they have money behind them, then they can normally find accommodation and look after themselves.
“If they’ve got no money – if they’ve spent it all on traffickers – then quite often they end up living in destitution and severe poverty until they can get their asylum claim heard. At the moment there’s a big backlog at the Home Office in dealing with asylum claims.”
The charity says the pandemic has made the situation for many refugees even worse, with many suffering from loneliness and anxiety as they wait for their asylum cases to be heard.
Spreading the word
Jonjo Warrick, who leads fundraising efforts for the charity, says Berkshire has more refugees in need than many might expect.
“People are in quite desperate situations,” he says. “You know they’re living on £36 a week, and they can’t work. They’re isolated, they don’t speak the language.
“I think a big issue of ours is telling people and educating people that people are in their community in these situations and they need help.”
The charity hopes its week of events will spread the word about the realities that refugees in Berkshire face.
Mr Warrick adds: “We’ve had loads of people sharing messages saying refugees are welcome here, signing up to our newsletters. We’ve had loads of people getting involved.
“I guess the whole point of it is to reach new people, and I think we’ve been doing that. We’ve been reaching a lot of new people from well beyond Berkshire, but also from the areas where we do work.”