How the English classes worked

I first got involved with STAR during my final year at the University of Leeds when I volunteered at English conversation classes for refugees and asylum seekers. Leeds STAR runs two conversation classes a week, both in partnership with local community centres. I attended the conversation classes held on a Wednesday at St. Vincent Support Centre on the outskirts of the city.

The classes were informal and normally lasted about an hour and a half. There was no obligation for refugees to attend every week.

As it was held in a centre which also offered health care, food donations and general support, it increased the accessibility for refugees.

We had some people who regularly attended and others who only popped in when they were able. Generally however each week there were at least 6 volunteers and a similar number of refugees.

Understandably refugees at all levels of English language attended. Some were fairly fluent in English, whilst some had to start with the basics.

Therefore, we generally worked on a one-to-one basis rather than undertaking a group lesson. This was to ensure that every individual benefited from the session, whether it was learning the alphabet or constructing complicated sentences.

The reality of refugees’ lives

Whilst volunteering at the classes, I leant things that shocked and surprised me about the reality of refugees’ lives.

For instance, when one of the worksheets asked for a word beginning with the letter ‘I’, one particular individual wrote ‘identification’. I found it shocking that someone who knew little English automatically wrote such a soulless word as ‘identification’. It also indicated the kind of experiences refugees have had in the UK, continually having to prove their identity.

On another occasion, a worksheet asked the question, if you could have one thing what would it be? Out of all the possible answers that popped into my head I did not consider the response: ‘a job’. Nevertheless, this is the answer the individual gave. This really brought home to me how desperate many refugees are to re-gain their independence and dignity rather than relying on hand-outs.

Asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their asylum claim are not permitted to work and receive only £35.52 cash support a week (Home office asylum support).

So often it is easy to get caught up in your own situation. In many parts of the UK people live alongside deprivation and suffering but remain sheltered from it. It is easy to rely on newspapers or hear say.

Even at university when people are supposedly broadening their horizons it is by no means difficult to get caught in a bubble and fail to notice what is going on right on your doorstep. We are all susceptible to it.

Why teaching refugees English is so important

This is one of the reasons why I think STAR is such a fantastic organisation.

Not only does it tap into the student population who often have plenty of time and enthusiasm, STAR also helps challenge the stereotypical perceptions of refugees as people who have chosen to come to England simply to receive benefits.

Undoubtedly there are exceptions, but from experience, the refugees I met had fled their home countries because they were genuinely fearful and had no other option. They were simply trying to work and live somewhere they do not feel constantly threatened.

Although the English classes definitely only touch the surface of the problems that many refugees encounter in the UK, I think they are an essential steeping stone into refugees adjusting more easily here.

Without a basic understanding of the English language, refugees will continue to be disadvantaged in the labour market and isolated from society. Without the time of volunteers, refugees would invariably be unable to afford expensive formal English classes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent volunteering. I found it extremely worthwhile and enlightening. I would recommend volunteering at STAR conversation classes to anyone and everyone.

Not only does it enhance your understanding of issues going on all around you, it assists refugees in one of the most fundamental ways possible, providing the ability to communicate.

Without the help of volunteers, many refugees would struggle to achieve this and be forced to rely on the minimal official support offered to them.

Warwick STAR has always been a relatively small but effective and participatory society. This was one of the main reasons why I first got involved.

We have a tradition of working closely with the STAR national office, other societies and refugee organisations. In 2009-10 we continued this tradition and have undertaken a range of amazing things on campus and with the refugee community in Coventry.

We kick-started the year with the introductory workshop on refugees and asylum issues conducted by James from the national office. Throughout the year, we continued to raise awareness about refugee issues by organising a variety of events.

Creative Campaigning

In January, we held an informative event with a speaker from CARA followed by a heated debate hosted by the Warwick Debating Society on STAR’s Equal Access campaign to higher education for asylum seekers. We also provided a scrumptious meal on the night to accompany the food for thought!

In February, our members and many more braved the cold and participated in our famous sleepout in the Piazza, in which participants were sponsored to stay out all night in an open plaza with nothing more than their sleeping bags,to show solidarity with destitute refugees and asylum seekers as part of Warwick Amnesty’s Protect the Human Week.

In March, we hosted a fundraiser for the annual Action Day with an amazing student volunteer live jazz band and a photo exhibition “A Day in the Life of an Asylum Seeker” with contributions from Warwick students (including myself!) about refugees in Coventry. We raised almost £100 for the Coventry Peace House!

We also invited Project Ayuda to put up a stall to sell ethical jewellery made by internally displaced women in Colombia – showing solidarity with refugees all around the world!

STAR provides students with many opportunities to understand and help refugees who are often neglected and misunderstood by the public and the media in particular.. Thanks to all the concerned and kind-hearted Warwick students who turned up to STAR’s numerous events.

We have successfully collected sufficient signatures to initiate a motion in the referendum that the university should adopt policies which encourage the Equal Access campaign It will now be the new exec’s responsibility to see that this passes!

Direct refugee assistance

In addition to raising awareness and campaigning, we coordinated volunteers to support refugees in the Coventry area. At the start of the year, our dedicated volunteers and campaigns coordinators organised a visit to the Coventry Refugee Centre, which provides information and practical and legal help for refugees in the Coventry area. Members have continued to volunteer for many projects in the centre, including both the women’s and men’s groups.

As in the past, we have also promoted and arranged many Warwick students to volunteer in the night shelter at Coventry Peace House, which assists destitute asylum seekers with accommodation.

Raising awareness in schools

Towards the end of the year, we continued our relatively new tradition of organising and volunteering in the annual Cultural Day in the Westwood School secondary school nearby.

On top of language workshops and the imaginative ‘suitcase’ game (in which children put themselves in refugees’ shoes, decide what they are going to bring with them on their journey and face the harsh and repeated scrutiny of immigration officers – played by our volunteers!), we added a fashion show workshop and a refugee drama workshop. Both the children and our volunteers thoroughly enjoyed the day and we hope that we also helped the children understand the difficulties refugees and cultural minorities encounter.

Last but not least, we have of course arranged members to attend STAR’s annual conference in November!

Best wishes to the new Warwick STAR team

I would say that as a small group with a 5-member exec team, our dedication and enthusiasm helped maintain the work of past STAR groups whilst undertaking new exciting and worthwhile activities. I thoroughly enjoyed the year and I am glad that I contributed to improving the understanding of refugee and asylum issues among the student body and bettering the lives of refugees in the area.

All my best wishes to the new execs to keep up STAR’s tradition of good work!

Had you worked with refugees or asylum seekers before joining STAR?

No, I hadn’t. I have volunteered but not with asylum seekers and refugees before. I knew a bit about it and I was open-minded before I worked with them.

How did you get involved with STAR?

I was part of a mailing list for volunteers at Southampton University and there was a posting for volunteers for an after-school homework club with Southampton STAR, that’s how I heard about them. I also went to STAR training days and the conference in 2009 and I have been volunteering ever since.

What has your STAR group been up to recently?

I volunteer at the Multicultural Centre in Southampton for refugees and asylum seekers. There’s food and a range of workshops and a crèche. British Red Cross and Refugee Action also give advice to refugees and asylum seekers at the centre.

We also volunteer at two schools. We volunteer at Upper Shirley High and run a homework club with about 8 kids, they get help with homework from STAR volunteers.

We also volunteer at St. Mary’s and help kids with Maths, ICT and English. Since we started volunteering at the school the number of kids that attend has gone up to 20, so that’s really good. Our Co-ordinator Eric organises training sessions with the volunteers at the schools too.

What do you think is the best thing asylum seekers get from your STAR activities?

I think the fact that they get one-to-one help with their homework, help with ICT, sports and encouragement from the volunteers as well is beneficial.

The Multicultural Centre has hundreds of people come in for advice every week. They are able to get food, socialise and get some crucial advice. There are lots of opportunities there.

What have you enjoyed most about the work you do with STAR?

I’ve met amazing people and learned so much. I’ve learned a lot through the training sessions and the conferences.

I have also made links with other charities and like the fact that I am reaching out to people. I’m really grateful for all the people I’ve met.

What would you consider a highlight since you started volunteering with STAR?

I have to say it would be the event we held in March for Action for Refugees Week 2010 to raise money for SWVG (Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group). Ice and Fire performed ‘Asylum Dialogues’ and there was a band night.

We then had a discussion involving STAR members and Ice and Fire. After the show an Afghan refugee in the audience went on stage and told his story.

He told us that the work we do makes a real difference and thanked us all. It was really moving. It was nice because these are the people we are trying to help.

It’s been a really rewarding experience and I’ve been quite lucky to work with a dedicated committee. I feel that we have achieved a lot this year.

Join Southampton STAR on Facebook

Had you volunteered with refugees before joining STAR?

I worked with refugees and asylum seekers for five years before I decided to pursue postgraduate studies.

I worked as a development assistant at a torture survivor treatment centre and taught English as a Second Language (ESL) mornings and at night.

How did you get involved with STAR?

I was involved with literacy tutoring in my junior and senior year of undergrad and I decided to volunteer for two years after university. I worked for an organisation similar to VSO called the US Peace Corps; this involved me moving to Kyrgyzstan to work as a village school teacher.

I had terrible culture shock when I returned and became interested working with immigrants and helping them with their adjustment.

What is your STAR group up to at the moment?

On Monday 29th March we had our big Spring trip. My friend and course mate Huda Al-Amin is the Executive Director of a non-profit called Mossada. We have regular semester outings with them.

We met up at Brick Lane in London for a group lunch with some ice breaker activities and then we went to the British Museum. The purpose of our outings is to encourage cultural exchanges at both ends. STAR members often tell me they’re interested in working with refugees but they don’t know how to act or what to say.

Read more about Mossada and Essex STAR’s trip to London

Group outings breakdown a lot of the ‘refugee’ stereotypes and help members realize refugees are just ordinary people that have dealt with extraordinary circumstances.

Ice and Fire (http://iceandfire.co.uk/about-us) will be performing at our spring festival. We will also be hosting a film night and showing ‘Outside the Law’, a film about Guantanamo detainees. The director, producer and one of the Guantanamo detainees have confirmed that they will attend. After that there will be a discussion about the film and a Q&A session too.

What do you think is the best thing asylum seekers get from your STAR activities?

In addition to awareness, maybe the best ‘thing’ refugees and asylum seekers gain from our STAR activities is a feeling of respect.

Various media outlets tend to pathologize and pity refugee people. Not only does this create stereotypes but it also doesn’t help anyone to label refugees as victims. Yes, terrible things happened, but that doesn’t mean individuals cannot overcome, even grow from their experiences.

Just citing personal experience, the refugees and asylum seekers I have had the privilege to work with are the most resilient, resourceful people I have ever met. It takes a great deal of courage to be a refugee. Listening to their stories, I often think ‘Would I have been able to survive that? Would I have been able to pick up the pieces and move on?’ The only common denominator among refugees is their loss of home, not trauma. To treat them as victims is to ignore their strengths, skills, and capacities.

It is my hope that, if nothing else, our STAR members end this semester knowing this much and feel equally capable applying this thinking to their continued refugee advocacy and awareness efforts.

What have you enjoyed most about the work you do with STAR?

I would say meeting people who are interested in working with refugees and asylum seekers but they don’t know why.

What has been the highlight of your volunteering so far?

I really enjoy the outings we’ve planned with Mossada. Huda has told me there is always a buzz in the hostel when we begin planning days out.

As much as I enjoy our STAR events, none of them would be possible without our very dedicated team of STAR officers. So maybe working with them has been the highlight of my year with STAR.

Join Essex STAR on Facebook .

Essex STAR has strong ties with Mosaada and have organised events with them on many occasions. The Chief Executive of the charity Huda and Essex STAR’s President Joan are colleagues and friends who met on their MA Refugee Studies at Essex University.

Mosaada is a grass roots self-help organisation that strives for the ‘advancement of health, education, employment and training for single women particularly those who are refugees…’. The charity was set up to provide information, advice and services to single women particularly refugees and asylum seekers who are facing domestic and personal crises. The charity runs a number of workshops providing practical that help with all aspects of daily life, including the Women Leading Change Programme which aims to build women’s self esteem and confidence.

The day started with all of us meeting at Café Naz in Brick Lane at noon for lunch. We enjoyed great food and socialised for a few hours before heading off for the second part of the day trip.

After lunch we went to the British Museum in central London. It was the first visit for many of the volunteers and women from Mosaada so everyone was quite excited. We all had a lot of fun walking around the museum and looking at all the exhibitions and even got lost on a few occasions!

From the great food at Brick Lane, to the wonderful exhibitions at the British Museum, it was a great day out for all!

Well done Essex STAR!

Join Essex STAR on Facebook)

Using plays, speakers and student media STAR groups have been telling thousands of people about the injustice of asylum seekers being excluded from university and gaining support from Student Unions to change policy.

See below for an update on progress at universities around the country.

Campaign Progress

Birmingham publicised the Equal Access Campaign on their group’s website and have persuaded over 200 hundred students to sign their petition. Working closely with the Student Guild after successfully passing a motion they were invited to meet with the University last month. They are now in discussions with the University over possible solutions.

Bristol recently held a successful speaker event to raise awareness of the campaign and secured a double page spread in their student paper, Epigram, on 8th March. They’re hoping they get their chance to meet with their Vice-Chancellor before the summer.

De Montfort raised awareness of the Equal Access campaign during Action for Refugees Week and managed to get over 20 pages of signatures for their petition. They’ve joined forces with their Student Union to write to their Vice-Chancellor and intend to meet with him in May…

Durham got people talking about the Equal Access campaign with their march through the city centre during Action for Refugees Week. And they’ve made a lot of progress in building relationships with local refugee organisations to campaign together.
Durham Demonstration

Essex designed a beautiful poster to wallpaper the campus and had an article published in their student paper. After writing a joint letter with their Students Union to the Vice-Chancellor they are waiting for a response.

Hull succeeded in getting the campaign noticed around campus having held stalls and events with Amnesty International over Action for Refugees Week. They even popped an amendment onto an NUS Motion to include support for STAR’s Equal Access campaign and will be writing to their Vice-Chancellor to request a meeting next term.

Nottingham managed to get over 350 signatures on their petition for Equal Access and they are intending to get even more! They enlisted the support of their Students Union Welfare officer to get the issue raised at the Executive Council and after this success the group are planning the next stages of their campaign.

Oxford passed a Student Union motion in support of Equal Access back in February and had an article in support of “Equal Fees for Asylum Seekers” published in the University’s Cherwell newspaper The group is also doing a great job by publicising their campaign events on their own website

Sheffield wrote to their Vice Chancellor for clarification of the fees policy for asylum seekers and are still chasing their VC for a response. The Student Union are already on board and are currently bringing together a wide range of support from local organisations to add support and discuss what else can be done for potential students.

Southampton raised the profile of their campaign with articles in both Wessex Scene and the local press. 70 people gathered for an awareness raising event on 10th March providing a great opportunity to highlight the issue of Equal Access. They plan to request a meeting with their Vice-Chancellor next term and hope to secure a number of free places for asylum seekers to study at the university.

Sussex passed a Student Union motion back in January and had an article called ‘Who’s Illegal? Who Decides?’ printed in the student newspaper.

Warwick drafted a motion in support of Equal Access which was passed by the students union, held a debate with the Warwick Debate team and have now collected over 200 signatures after a joint sleepout with Amnesty.

Share your Success

If we’ve missed your STAR group out then let us know and send in your achievements!

To find out more about the campaign- Equal Access

We and every other student across the country who are also part of STAR at their universities believe this is absolutely unreasonable because asylum seekers cannot afford these fees or living costs… did you know they receive £35.13 to live on a week? Did you also know they are not allowed to work in paid employment whilst they are waiting for the government to decide if they can stay in the country or not? Some people have been waiting over ten years…- Alisha Kanabar, Durham STAR

Durham STAR is promoting STAR’s national ‘Equal Access’ campaign which calls on Vice-Chancellors of all UK universities to allow asylum seekers to pay “home fee” rate of £3,225. Asylum seekers and some refugees are classified as overseas students and have to pay fees of up to £20,000 per year. STAR believes that this is unacceptable as asylum seekers are not allowed to apply for student loans, grants and most bursaries nor are they are not allowed to work in the UK. STAR university members are campaigning across the UK for asylum seekers to join them as equals at university.

On Thursday 25th February Durham STAR set off from Durham market square and walked up to the main library in white boiler suits and masks. Their masked faces represented ‘voiceless’ asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. The boiler suits had short attention grabbing asylum facts written on the front and back and attracted a lot of attention!

The marchers stood facing the main road holding up the STAR banner. STAR members that were not wearing boiler suits talked to members of the public, answered their questions and encouraged them to sign the Equal Access petition.

During the march Durham STAR also handed out “myth busters” leaflets. They were short, easy to read leaflets and designed to give people quick facts about refugees and asylum seekers.
Most of the people that Durham STAR approached showed interest and many of them did not hesitate to sign the petition- a few even wished the group good luck!

Durham STAR is now aiming to get university staff members to endorse the Equal Access campaign and to get 1,000 signatures before they meet with their Vice-Chancellor

Durham have more upcoming events including film socials, presentations and cinema outings with young asylum seekers.

Join Durham STAR on Facebook.

Find out about STAR’s Equal Access campaign.

Birmingham
Birmingham did a great job even though the Equal Access Campaign stall had to be moved to a bar when it started raining! They still managed to collect over 150 signatures. Birmingham STAR also promoted their upcoming events around the university and generated lots of interest in their upcoming film night and demonstration in support of the hunger strikes at Yarl’s Wood. They are currently waiting for a response to the letter they sent to their Vice-Chancellor requesting a meeting about equal access to university for asylum seekers.

Bristol
Bristol held an event with keynote speakers and students signed the Equal Access petition. Burmese student activist Ko Aung spoke first and talked about fleeing Burma and seeking refuge in the UK. James Fisher from STAR’s national office discussed the barriers asylum seekers face in accessing higher education and STAR’s Equal Access campaign.

Cardiff
Congratulations to Cardiff STAR for the massive turnout at their Refugee Rhythms event! There were performances from bands, break dancers and Cardiff Reggae Society DJs. Over 200 people attended and the party went on until 1 am. Refugees and asylum seekers from the drop-in centre where Cardiff STAR teach English provided the food from a variety of countries including Georgia, Zimbabwe, the Republic of Congo and Iraq. Cardiff STAR raised almost £1000 and was donated to the Welsh Refugee Council’s Destitution fund.

De Montfort
De Montfort held a bake sale and raised over £100 and donated it to Red Cross food parcels. De Montfort also sent a letter to their Vice-Chancellor requesting a meeting to discuss the Equal Access campaign.

Durham
Well done to Durham on their first STAR event! Durham STAR succeeded in getting over 60 signatures for their petition in just 40 minutes! On Thursday 25th February Durham STAR marched from the Market Place to the University Library dressed in white boiler suits that had asylum facts on the back and doctor’s masks to signify the ‘voiceless’ refugees. They handed out “myth busters” leaflets to those who signed the petition. Durham STAR is now running a campaign to get staff members to endorse the Equal Access campaign.

Hull
Hull collected over 150 signatures at their Equal Access stall. The stall was visited by lots of curious students who engaged in lively debates with the STAR group. Well done to Hull STAR for successfully making an amendment to a NUS motion so that HUSU now supports our Equal Access Campaign!

Southampton
Southampton set up an Equal Access stall in the main hall of the Student Union and got over 60 signatures. The Ice and Fire event, which had performances from Actors for Human Rights in support of Southampton Winchester Visitor’s Group, was well attended with an audience of over 70 people. There was a lively debate afterwards, with people expressing an interest in the work of STAR and music from local bands.

Warwick
Debate on access to higher education for asylum seekers – Hosted on campus a few weeks ago with a talk by the CARA speaker, people from the Peace House and the Coventry Refugee Center and a debate by the Warwick Debate team.

Leeds STAR has been working in coalition with other NGOs in the Leeds area on the Better Asylum Housing Campaign. One of the aims of the campaign is to empower asylum seekers in substandard housing to give testimony about their situations. By giving them a voice, we hope to collate enough evidence that can be presented to the UKBA and which will force them to address the issue. This film, made by Suze Trevelyan, highlights the problem and shows examples of the kind of evidence we have been trying to collect.

The debate was held on 26 January 2010 at 6.30pm and over 90 people were in attendance!

The event gave students a chance to learn more about refugees and the difficulties they face once they come to the UK.

The panel consisted of:

• Almamy Taal, an exiled journalist and refugee from the Birmingham Law Centre
• Jo Barker a Tory MP, member of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission
• Ellen Bote from the Refugee Council
• Stephen Bedser, Labour parliamentary candidate for Kings Norton
• Liberal Democrat Martin Sharpland.

Each speaker gave a 10 – 20 minute presentation. They introduced themselves and the organisation they were representing and each spoke about their greatest concerns in relation to Britain’s Asylum System. They talked in detail about which specific issues were of particular concern to them and their organisation.
After their presentations, the panel took questions from the audience.

The audience was then asked to vote on the statement: ‘seeking asylum in Britain – an unfair process?’ by raising their hand in agreement. The vote was unanimous!

A big thank you and well done to Birmingham STAR for holding the event!

Visit Birmingham STAR for more information on their events and activites.

Barts

Our biggest achievement was… the successful establishment of new homework club.

Our main aim for this year is… to increase number of volunteers and awareness of society.

Birmingham

Our biggest achievement was… the Guild Council passed a motion on ‘Equal Access to Higher Education Campaign’ in October 2009!

Our main aims for this year are…

Campaigning: Question Time Debate (Tues 26th January), which offers students a unique opportunity to quiz panellists on ‘Britain’s Tough Asylum System’. Speakers include representatives from Refugee Council, Coventry Peace House, Labour Society and Conservative Society.

Post-Debate, we plan to work on launching the campaign and spreading the word on campus – need to come up with some innovative ideas!! We aim to liaise with Guild Officers and write a letter to the Vice-Chancellor.

Volunteering: Homework Club. We would like to extend this to outreach work in local schools (e.g. talks etc) if we had enough skills and volunteers amongst us.

Brighton

Our biggest achievement was… Getting together and making a great stall at fresher’s fair with new sign ups, and great discussions about the work of STAR. And our ‘Do your bit donate your kit’ Male clothing collection over equality and diversity week. There were at least 6 bin liners full of good quality clothes; I hope the Slipknot hoodie goes down well!

Our main aim for this year is… Getting together to make an awareness raising film for the charity Gatwick Detainee Welfare Group, in hope to have it ready for Refugee week… Any budding film makers out there with any tips would be greatly received!

Bristol

Our biggest achievements were… filling the lecture theatre for ‘Home Truths’ and having too many prospective volunteers for the Welcome Centre!

Our main aim for this year is… making sure everyone who wants to volunteer is involved with a project and getting the vice-chancellor to make changes to the university’s policy on asylum seekers.

Essex

Our biggest achievement was… structuring the foundation for the re-birth of Essex STAR!

Our main aims for this year are… host a picnic with refugee women, fundraisers, poster campaign to raise awareness of the facts and continuing the Equal Access petition.

Hull

Our biggest achievement was… to get the conversation classes up and running despite a few hiccups along the way and looking forward to next semester when the classes should hopefully continue.

Our main aim for this year is… to carry on the classes and branch out to do more fundraising and awareness raising as well as establishing a mentoring project for student volunteers.

Leeds

Our biggest achievements were… a big fundraiser showing Asylum Dialogues raising £246.50 and getting so many new volunteers.

Our main aims for this year are…

• continuing the Citizens for Sanctuary housing campaign – collecting testimonies, doing the conference etc, developing our work with WAST
• setting up Journey to Safety in local schools, a fun simulation of the journey of a refugee
• making a cookbook as a fundraiser (recipes being collected as we speak)
• stall at LGBT history month
• get some articles in the paper and develop the new link with a media group whose aim is to promote positive press for asylum seekers (media rep currently on the case)
• do at least one other fundraiser

Liverpool

Our biggest achievements were… re-establishing conversation club, making links/contacts with other organisations.

Our main aims for this year are… to raise awareness and establish projects with Sola Arts.

Nottingham

Our biggest achievements were… Getting a lot of new students helping out at the Tuesday Night Project (a social evening at Nottingham Refugee Forum) and being able to expand the work there to have a pottery workshop and a digital art workshop. We also had an Afghan party which was well attended and helped to build up links with that community and the Afghan society at University.

Our main aims for this year are… To run a campaign in the spring term and be more active in raising awareness on campus. To hopefully get more ethnic societies involved in the work in the Tuesday Night project such as Arabic, Iranian and Tamil society and get them to run one of the evenings.

Sheffield

Our biggest achievements were… successfully recruiting new members and introducing them to all of the different organisations which support asylum seekers and refugees in Sheffield. The Sponsored Walk was also very successful.

Our main aims for this year are… to organise more events which promote positive images of refugees on campus. Many of our events were off campus this term because of the weather and building work on the concourse. Among events we have planned for next term are a SleepOut on the Concourse to raise money for ASSIST and a play highlighting issues facing asylum seekers.

Southampton

Our biggest achievements were… recruiting and keeping new members and the LiNK film event.

Our main aims for this year are… more awareness raising events on campus such as a music night and a talk by CARA (Council for Assisting Refugee Academics).

St George’s

Our biggest achievement was… helping KKF run all the projects smoothly and some good very good fundraising efforts.

Our main aims for this year are… to build on the successes of the previous term and to do better in terms of volunteer recruitment and retention.

Warwick

Our biggest achievement was… getting first year volunteers for the Center for Equality and Diversity as well as the Peace House. While not that many of them are registered members of the STAR society, we were able to encourage a significant number of people to start volunteering at these organizations. Last academic year, the society had trouble in the first term getting volunteers, especially amongst freshmen but the situation has improved this year.

Our main aims for this year will be… increasing our awareness raising activities and hopefully at least one fund-raising activity. On January 21st, we have an event planned with the Debating society on ‘Access to Higher Education for Asylum Seekers’ which will also involve a dinner and an asylum-related movie. We also hope that we will have a speaker from CARA (Council for Assisting Refugee Academics) and a local MP to come up to campus to speak about asylum issues (not at the same time necessarily). We will also be collaborating with Amnesty International and Project Ayuda during ‘themed-weeks’ like Human Rights Week, Refugee Week and Party in the Piazza.

The 2008-09 school year has been an active one for the STAR group on the University of Bradford campus. We have worked to support the Bradford City of Sanctuary Project and continued to run our Monday Night Friendship Evenings, begun three years ago. For an hour and half each Monday evening during the school term, we provide a warm friendly place to welcome Asylum Seekers, Refugees, Foreign Workers and students. We have light refreshments in the form of tea, coffee and soup each week and there are toys and activities available for children. A favorite activity tends to be challenging Rev. Chris Howson to a lively game of chess or one of the STAR members to a game a Jenga.

The evening also provides a chance for people to practice their English and for STAR to try assist people with any forms, paperwork and to arrange times to meet up with people at other times during the week to accompany them to sign in with Immigration or to other appoints where having a friend and advocate along may be of help.

Due to the recent arrival of a large number of asylum seekers and refugees to Bradford from North Korea, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Burma we found there was a demand for informal basic English lessons on our Mondays nights throughout the Spring. With the help of Bradford Action for Refugees, STAR was able to begin some basic lessons assisting with pronunciation of English and basic phrases. We hope to expand or ability to assist the English in the upcoming year with funding we have received through the Rediscover Your Heart Award, chosen by Peace Child International with funding from the Fred Foundation.

We have also received tremendous support from Rev. Chris Howson, at the Desomund Tutu House in Bradford, who along with BEACON, Bradford Ecumenical Asylum Seeker Concern, has been an advisor and advocate for our STAR group in all our projects and campaigns since STARs formation at the University of Bradford.

At King’s College London STAR over the past four years we have strived to build a strong support base of volunteers and mentors at the Katherine Low Settlement, a community centre in South London.

KCL STAR has been contributing volunteers to the Refugee Home School Support Project, an already established project helping children from a refugee background in South London.

Every Wednesday two groups of young children aged seven to twelve come to the Katherine Low Settlement either by foot or on the minibus. Once the children arrive they are ushered into the café where Hana, the project manager, takes attendance and they have some fruit and juice and get ready for their homework and activity.

The project has been granted National Lottery Funding and for this reason some of the childrens work is monitored to see how they progress throughout the next two to three years. Their workbooks are based on similar work they may complete in school with the core subjects of maths, science, language and reading.

The volunteers of KCL STAR are there to help the children with their workbooks by providing one-on-one tutoring, as well as being a positive influence. Once the homework is finished there is an activity of some sort. It is usually art, sport or playing in the park.

This spring STAR National helped secure the funding for two special workshops for the kids: street dancing and drumming. It was an excellent experience for the children and really helped the project overall. The project also provides opportunities for the children to go on day trips to amusement parks and swimming centres.

The work that King’s College STAR contributes to the Home Schools Refugee Project is wonderful because volunteers are able to monitor the children they work with and see the difference they make. This difference encourages the volunteers to come back and continue to make a difference in the lives of the children they work with.

Liverpool STAR won the Volunteering Project of the Year award for creating the Liverpool Women’s Group for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, while Liverpool STAR member Laurie Wilson won a Volunteering England Gold Award.

Here Laurie talks about his background in volunteering and some of his favourite memories.

Volunteering my time and getting much more in return

Written by Laurie Wilson (Liverpool STAR)

I originally got involved in volunteering with asylum seekers about two and a half years ago during my first year at university. My reason for doing so was because I wanted to use the abundance of spare time that student life had provided me with to do something positive and rewarding. At first I took part in a project taking groups of asylum seekers on trips to museums and Liverpool’s other tourist attractions. The ‘official’ goal of this project was to help to integrate the asylum seekers into the local culture and also to make them aware of all of the things that you can do for free in Liverpool, however, unofficially, the idea was just to make sure that everybody had fun, made new friends and just generally enjoyed themselves!

I became involved with STAR late, at the start of my third year of uni, due to the lucky coincidence that the project I was involved in had a drastic shortage of volunteers and I’d got word that Liverpool STAR group was full of enthusiastic people, passionate about helping to improve the lives of asylum seekers! After a meeting with one of the managers of Asylum Link (a local centre for asylum seekers) we decided set up a ‘Conversation Club’, a kind of informal English class, on Friday afternoons.

The project took off better than we had possibly imagined and has been a huge success due to enthusiasm of both the asylum seekers and the volunteers, and in particular due to the lesson planning skills of Laura and Claudia, two of the group of superb volunteers involved with the project. Some weeks the room was packed to bursting point with people, everybody having a great time and improving their English language ability (and I don’t just mean the asylum seekers, I’ve found that being challenged to explain the meaning of words I take for granted has led me to think more about the language!). The best thing for me about the conversation club has been that it never feels like I’m “going to do volunteer work” it just feels like I’m going to hang out with my mates and have a laugh!

I think that both of the projects that I have been involved in (and the ones that I haven’t such as the very popular and successful women’s group also being run by Liverpool STAR) benefit the asylum seekers who participate in them in a variety of ways. Alongside the more practical benefits, such as improving language ability or gaining a better knowledge of the city, the projects have also offered people the opportunity to make friends with English people (and discover that a lot of us do care!), have some fun, and enjoy a distraction from what are incredibly hard and often depressing circumstances.

If I had to pick a highlight from the time I have been involved with volunteering and with STAR it would have to be at the conversation club Easter party, seeing a room full of people dancing, smiling and singing along to Bob Marley. The time that I’ve put into volunteering was worth it for that moment alone!

Thanks for your story Laurie, and congratulations to you and Liverpool STAR on your awards!