Fab first meetings!

Over the last month, STAR groups have hosted first meetings at a whopping 30 universities across the UK and inspired over 600 new recruits to take action to support refugees – well done all of you! Each group sparked off new interest in national campaigns and encouraged students to get active in their communities. Here are just some of the great things you got up to:

• Getting clued up on Simple Acts with Cambridge STAR
• Warwick STAR’s energetic ice breaker and screening of this fab Scottish Refugee Council video
• Inspiring students to take action against detention and destitution with speakers from the Campaign to Close Campsfield and Asylum Welcome at the Oxford meeting
• Brainstorming brilliant ideas around campaigns and events with the Manchester group
• Bradford’s new committee teaming up with Bradford Action for Refugees for a great welcome event at their volunteering project
• Celebrating the achievements of the Equal Access campaign with Bristol STAR and gearing up for another busy year
• Essex STARs getting quizzed up and ready to volunteer at the Suffolk Refugee Forum.
• Chatting with the Zimbabwe Association at De Monfort STAR’s first meeting
• Screening Cardiff STAR’S brilliant sleepout video and skill-sharing with new recruits

New groups for 2011-12!

This year STAR is bigger than ever as new groups emerge and old groups burst back to life. Here’s a special welcome to our brand spanking new groups at York and Queen Mary’s! And good luck to those students at University of East London, University College London, Imperial and the Institute of Education who hope to start up something new in the coming months too – watch this space STARs!

Remember. If you’re university doesn’t have a STAR group there is no time like the present to set one up! Why not contact the national team or come to the National STAR Conference on November 18-19th to find out more?

Sarah Gibbons is in her final year at Warwick University where she’s studying law. She got involved with STAR in her second year and was on the executive committee last year. As she gets ready to move on from uni, she shared with us why her time with the group was so valuable to her:

How did you get involved with STAR?

It was through a lecturer actually. She was my personal tutor and I went to go speak with her because I was getting fed up with everything in Warwick being about business and commercial law. She suggested I should contact STAR because she was the refugee and asylum law module leader.

I went and got involved in the volunteering and became a case worker at Coventry Refugee Centre.

What do you do as a case worker?

We’re trained up in asylum/refugee issues and then we shadow somebody. It’s an appointment-based service in Coventry, so asylum seekers and refugees make an appointment with the support service there to deal with any issues they might have. I was on the team that was dealing with integration and education, so I shadowed a case worker for awhile and then was given my own clients.

Have you learned a lot from the experience?

Definitely. It just gives you real life insight into the issues people face on a day-to-day basis.

Warwick STAR is involved in a lot of different volunteering activities. Can you tell me about some of the most successful ones?

There are probably two. One of them is the Peace House, which is a homeless shelter in Coventry that houses homeless asylum seekers. STAR recruits volunteers and takes them to the Peace House. This year we recruited a record-breaking number and we’ve also started having STAR, as a group, go to the Peace House and cook food for them, have a party, that kind of thing. It’s been really good fun.

Also, we recruit volunteers from STAR to send them to the refugee centre. They only had ten advertised spaces but because of the number of volunteers Warwick STAR sent, they had an emergency meeting between the managers and agreed to take on 30 people instead of ten.

What would you say to someone looking to join a society – why is STAR a good choice?

With STAR, the selling point is you get a bit of everything. You might have other societies that just do volunteering, or just do campaigning. STAR does everything and you get to be really involved in it. You get a real role, it’s not like you’re expected to just turn up and watch. You get to be really active – you can campaign, volunteer or organise events. You can just get involved in whatever area you want so there is really something for everyone.

It’s also quite nice to be in a community. You feel like you’re really part of a small group, which is nice, but you’re also part of the bigger national network as well, so you have a chance to feel like you’re part of something bigger as well. That’s what I like about it anyway.

What has been the highlight of your time working with STAR?

Maybe two things. The first was when we had a party at Warwick University where we invited all the refugees and asylum seekers that people worked with in the volunteer projects and got them to come in and have fun with the STAR members. It was just really nice to see everyone in the same room at the same time getting along.

Also I really liked the STAR conference I went to last year. It was really nice to see all the student groups, share ideas and hear what other people do. Hearing the speakers was really good as well. You feel more knowledgeable when you go back to your own university group.

Has working with STAR taught you a lot about the situation facing refugees and asylum seekers in the UK?

Yeah, definitely. I do refugee and asylum law as a module, but seeing real life and how actual individuals are affected by the system is something you could only get through STAR. You can’t get that through reading it in a book.

Mature student Phil Chapman is studying marine biology at Southampton University. This is his third year with STAR and he’s the current president of his group. Before he hands off leadership, he spoke to us about why his experience with STAR has been valuable.

How did you first get involved with STAR?

I first got involved really because I came back into education as a mature student and I wanted to sort of keep my foot in the real world, as it were, and not just be surrounded by student things and just studying.

So I found out about this organisation in Southampton called CLEAR, which is a project set up by a local church that works with asylum seekers and refugees. They run English language classes as well as a drop-in centre and contribute to various other things in and around the city. So I started volunteering there.

Is it quite hard to get students interested in STAR?

Depends in what area. Most of the people who come along initially at the beginning of the year, I’ve found, have been interested in volunteering, so they want to do something active. The campaigning stuff is harder to motivate people to get involved in, but there’s been a core of us that are happy to plug away at those things.

Why did you think it was important to get involved in refugee and asylum seeker issues?

I had worked previously with other marginalised communities in the country. I’d worked for charities, working with the homeless and addicts.

We’d just come out of quite a number of years where there had been, I don’t know, a kind of feverish attitude in the media towards asylum seekers and refugees. I guess it’s a political motivation to want to work and help with people who are very marginalised by society.

What would you say to a student who is considering joining STAR – has it been worthwhile for you?

Absolutely, yes. From my experience at Southampton, as opposed to other societies, you can get involved with STAR and if you have any kind of interest or idea, the chances are you can make it happen, because it’s small enough for anyone with a particular interest or passion to pursue it and to take other people with you. It’s really open. Within the field that you’re working in, there’s every opportunity to pursue an interest, whether it be volunteering or campaigning.

It’s great for experience in organising political campaigns or getting involved in the local community. There’s the opportunity to pursue your interests without real resistance and with lots of people there to support you.

What has been the highlight of your time with STAR?

I would have to say, actually doing the volunteering that I arranged through STAR, so working in the CLEAR office with people who had the sort of issues you deal with in the abstract when you’re campaigning. You’re coming face to face with and meeting the people in the situations about which you’re talking and trying to campaign.

What attracted you to STAR – why did you think it was important to get involved?

I definitely wanted to do some kind of volunteering because I had done some at home in London. STAR seemed like the best opportunity to get involved with the local community. I think that’s one of the most important things – that I was involved in the Liverpool community, not just with students.

Liverpool STAR just organised a series of arts fundraisers. Were you involved in organizing the fundraising? How did it go?

It was really good. We had a few different events. The warehouse party was great in terms of fundraising but not necessarily good for raising awareness. We also had an event in the bombed-out church which was the opposite. It wasn’t really good for fundraising but really good for raising awareness. But it would have been just as good for fundraising had it not rained.

It was really good because we got to display some of the art the women’s group had done with SOLA Arts, who are a community arts project, and we had some poetry reading and bands. It was nice because it was a mixture of STAR volunteers, people from the general public and a lot of the asylum seekers and refugees as well. We are planning to run both these events again in the summer term.

We also had film showings (Pushing the Elephant and Moving to Mars), talks and discussions with a case worker from Asylum Link, which raised a lot of awareness. We helped organise The Circle of Silence with the local charity Faiths4change – this is a silent protest to campaign for human rights for asylum seekers and refugees and will be happening once a month. Students, people from different charities and the local communities put in a huge effort to make all these events happen. It was a real team effort. On balance it was a huge success and we are looking forward to more events dedicated to fundraising and raising awareness.

Could you tell me more about this women’s group?

It started three years ago. It’s a weekly group that’s an informal, safe and fun space for women and children refugees and asylum seekers. The women who come can often feel isolated and marginalised and it’s an opportunity to meet people in a similar situation and make friends. We have specific activities that we run as well – sewing and knitting with materials so the women can make bags and clothes, things like that. We also have a gardening project where we started a vegetable patch. We run day trips, do arts projects (organised by SOLA arts), and the charity Food Cycle have recently started cooking meals for us, which are extremely popular.

Because it’s been Easter holidays we’ve had loads more kids than normal the last couple of weeks, so we’ve had activities for the children. It’s mainly student volunteers so we can’t give important legal advice or anything like that but we do refer people on to other places that might be useful, such as Asylum Link Merseyside. We couldn’t run the group without the help and support of the Chester-based charity Healthy Inclusion.

The group has continued to grow especially since we’ve moved to a bigger venue — the Kensington Methodist Church. We now have 27 regular members (plus children!)

Do you think it’s made an impact?

It’s hard to say exactly because it’s not like a converstaion club where the role are clearly defined but I think that’s what makes it nice, because it is just informal. It’s relaxed but that’s why it works. The women keep coming back to it must be having a positive impact!

So the women really enjoy it?

Yes! And the children as well.

What’s been the highlight of your time working with STAR?

I think meeting people from very different backgrounds, learning about different experiences and contributing to making some kind of difference to the future. I’ve met people who I would never have met had I not been doing the volunteering work and seen how hard it can be for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. And hopefully, I’ve contributed to making life a tiny, weenie bit easier.

Would you recommend students just starting out at uni to think about getting involved with STAR?

It compliments uni life. University academic life can be quite stressful and busy, but although you’re doing more with STAR, it doesn’t feel like you’re doing more. It does seem very worthwhile and you learn a lot from it. I think it’s very good for you as well as the cause you’re helping with.

Film

First on the programme in Liverpool are two documentaries focusing on the experiences of refugees.

Pushing the Elephant follows what happens when a refugee advocate from the Democratic Republic of Congo is reunited with her daughter after a decade of separation, while Moving to Mars documents the experiences of two Burmese refugee families who settle in the UK.

Visual Arts

Liverpool STAR is working with community arts project SOLA Arts to put on an exhibition of visual arts aimed at raising both money and awareness.

Music

Local bands will attempt to lure music-loving students out for a night of dancing in support of STAR with everything from reggae and dub step to Balkan sounds.

Educational Events

Interspersed with all the art are plenty of opportunities for people to educate themselves about the problems faced by asylum seekers, including expert talks on asylum seeker health and the political plight of refugees.

Get Inspired

Feeling inspired by the great work going on in Liverpool? If your STAR group is arranging fundraisers, please get in touch with STAR National and tell us about your efforts.

And don’t forget to follow STAR on Twitter or like us on Facebook to get updates and ideas from STAR groups around the UK.

Still Human Still Here from Simon Bartlett on Vimeo.

On the 25th of February, a group of people braved the wind and the rain, to sleep out in Cardiff in order to show solidarity with the plight of asylum seekers.

With thanks to Simon Bartlett and Cardiff STAR

Around the UK

Hundreds of students from STAR and Amnesty slept on the streets in February / March to make people take notice of the destitution of thousands of asylum seekers.

We are asking MPs to support granting permission to work for asylum seekers so they can support themselves.

Read our update below about some of the Sleepout adventures so far!

Hundreds of student sleep rough for a night

Find out more about Still Human Still Here campaign

Our biggest achievement last term was:

• “Keeping STAR’s presence known and getting new people interested despite many obstacles! E.g. having no provision made for us at Freshers’ Fair so having to gatecrash!”

This term our main aims are:

• “To move Homework Club into Leyton College ( – increasing uptake by taking the club to the students).”

• “To engage as many people as possible in the STAR & Amnesty London Sleepout to make it a big success!”

Bradford

Our biggest achievements last term were:

• “Our training events at the beginning of the year. Our events – ‘On English Conversation’ and ‘An Introduction to Refugee Issues’ – built a strong group of members this year.”

• “Successfully applying for grant funds to hold Refugee Action Day in February.”

• “We also built STAR’s connections and relationships with local Refugee organizations in Bradford, including involvement on the Refugee Week Planning committee for June and the BEACON forums.”

This term our main aims are:

• “To organize Refugee Action Day on Feb 24th.”

• “Improve campaigning on the University campus.”

• “Increase attendance by refugees/asylum seekers at Friendship nights.”

Bristol

Our biggest achievement last term was:

• “Gettings lots and lots of people involved in the volunteering projects, and being actively involved with these ourselves.”

This term our main aims are:

• “Revive the Equal Access campaign with the new pledge and updated goals”

• “Collaborate with Amnesty for the Still Human Still Here campaign”

Cambridge

Our biggest achievements last term were:

• “Having a much bigger and better stall at the Freshers’ fair and initial meeting than last year. We now have more people who are more enthusiastic and involved than before.”

• “We are actively looking into new volunteering opportunities and have got the Equal Access campaign off the ground.”

• “We have also made real connections with other societies with similar aims such as Amnesty International and a city group called Cambridge Migrant Solidarity.”

This term our main aims are:

• “To take the Equal Access motions to the main Cambridge Student Union and then to the Vice Chancellor.”

• “To turn the potential volunteering schemes into realities.”

• “To host a sleepout for Still Human Still Here with Amnesty International.”

• “To hopefully run more schools workshops (we are in the process of contacting PSHE coordinators at local schools).”

Cardiff

Our biggest achievements last term was:

• “Having a packed room full of students teaching asylum seekers and refugees English – alot more than last year. Our Christmas party at drop in was brilliant – we managed to feed at least 70 people with food from Iraq, Congo, Zimbabwe, Georgia and Wales!”

This term our main aim is:

• “To successfully run our annual fundraiser ‘refugee rhythms’ at the students union. Hopefully we will get even more people involved than last year and run a campaign during the night to raise awareness.”

Durham

Our biggest achivement last term was:

• “Establishing a volunteering committee and organising the ‘Asylum Dialogues’ performance and a panel for the event the following term. “

This term our main aims are:

• “To set up a volunteering project”

• “To raise awareness by hosting an ‘Asylum Dialogues’ performance and participating in a ‘sleep-out’ with Amnesty

• “To get the Student Union’s support for the equal access campaign.”

Liverpool

Our biggest achievement last term was:

• “Re-starting the conversation club”

This term, our main aim is:

• “To make sure that the Women’s Group runs smoothly in the new location.”

Newcastle

Our biggest achievements last term were:

• “Raising our membership, boosting our profile and getting new people involved and informed about STAR, making Newcastle STAR an interesting group where we can learn more and take positive action whilst having a jolly time and meeting new people.”

This term our main aims are:

• “To get our group link volunteering with North of England Refugee Service projects up and running,”

• “Raise awareness through our sleep-out .”

• “Take action for progress in our Equal Access campaign.”

Sheffield

Our biggest achievement last term was:

• “Spending 7 hours selling over 200 cakes to raise lots of money for our conversation club (and attracting a lot of attention towards refugee and asylum seeker issues on the way!). This money will go towards a conversation club day trip to the seaside.”

This term our main aim is:

• “To have a really successful sponsored sleep out, with proceeds going to ASSIST. We will be working with two Amnesty International groups as well as with local refugee and asylum seeker projects to ensure there is a massive turnout with lots of instruments, to make a lot of noise and attract as much attention as possible.”

Warwick

Our biggest achievements last term were:

• “Successfully getting the SU to support our campaign. We now have their backing and they are taking steps to push the university to change their current policy regarding the asylum seekers fees category.”

• “We also had a record number of volunteers contact the Coventry Refugee Centre to apply for caseworker positions. Consequently the CRC had an emergency meeting and increased their intake of volunteers from 10 to 30!”

This term our main aims are:

• “To keep going with the momentum of the equal access campaign and have lots of events and awareness raising during refugee week.”

Expert speakers from organisations such as Medical Foundation were invited to Hull, Sheffield, Newcastle and Nottingham among many others and Bristol held a “Positive Images” workshop with the Red Cross.

Many groups, including LSE, Durham, Warwick, and London Met invited representatives from STAR National to hold introductory talks about refugees.

Students at Southampton, Manchester, Warwick, Leeds, Glasgow and Cardiff have been watching films such as ‘In This World’ and documentaries on destitution.

Cambridge ran workshops at local schools to help teach young people about refugees at Citizenship days and LSE organised an amazing conference on indefinite detention with over 100 students.

Liverpool held a quiz, Glasgow published an article and Leeds helped launch the new Leeds City of Sanctuary movement!

Volunteering

St Georges, Southampton, KCL, Barts, Bristol and Warwick are supporting refugee children and young people with their education through mentoring, classroom support and homework clubs, making sure there is also time for fun stuff too of course!

Oxford run a weekly sports group for young people, Liverpool support a women’s social group and Glasgow are organising regular socials so STAR members and young refugees can get together and enjoy themselves.

Leeds collected loads of old bikes and after being awarded £850 funding they are starting a bike loan project for refugees.

Getting to grips with English can be really hard if you are new to the UK but STAR groups all over the country, like Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, Sheffield and Nottingham, are doing their bit to help by running English conversation classes.

Plus this term Manchester teamed up with Refugee Action to set up a new class for recently arrived refugees and Bradford are getting one started for mums at a local primary school.

When the temperature drops this time of year it’s important to support refugees who are destitute and Warwick, Glasgow and Manchester are doing what they can to help by volunteering at night shelters and providing food.

Essex and Bristol are volunteering in refugee drop in centres and UWE have helped to get a new Migrants Rights Centre set up in Bristol!

Give us your money…. please

Some much needed cash was raised: Southampton held a RAG event, while Cardiff and Sheffield found a tasty way to raise some funds by baking and selling cakes.

Newcastle wrapped up the term with a cosy stocking-filler evening and encouraged students to bring along small gifts for refugees and asylum seekers.

Leeds organised a clothes auction and a cookery book sale. Manchester and Cardiff held music nights while Glasgow organised a sleepout and had people disguised as Theresa May in a Masquerade Ball!

Campaigning for change

We had some innovative campaigning for Equal Access, with giant painted petitions at Leeds, film-making at Bristol and lobbying at Durham and Cambridge.

Students in Manchester, Bradford and Sheffield continued campaigning locally to support individual asylum seekers.

Our brand new and shiny group UWE Bristol got students to contact MPs and write letters to detainees.

And a whole bunch of you have been working hard to get hundreds of action cards signed for the Right to Work!

Lene, London Met

I became involved with STAR last year, after attending the STAR National Conference in November 2009. To be honest, I had not heard of STAR until my “Peace and Conflict Studies” course leader sent us an e-mail about the Conference. Since I have a strong interest in Human Rights and am interested in issues related to migration and refugees, I signed up for the Conference immediately.

At the conference I met other students from my university (London Metropolitan University), who were all equally motivated to set up a STAR group at London Met, probably one of the most diverse universities in terms of students’ nationalities and backgrounds. As London Met is one of the few universities that allow asylum seekers to pay home fees, there are many refugees or asylum seeking students.

Since there was no STAR group at London Met before, our main efforts went (and still go) towards raising awareness about STAR around the university. We held some introductory events and had a week of STAR promotion in order to “recruit” members.

At the same time, we were offered to participate in a voluntary project in local schools with high numbers of refugee and asylum seeking students (together with “Refugee Project”). The project consisted of us holding workshops about going to university in the UK, relating our personal story of how we got to university and giving students the opportunity to ask us questions about life at uni, as well as providing them with details of people who could give them legal or financial advice.

It was a great project through which I realised how privileged I am to be able to go to the university I want and, as a European student, pay home fees in the UK.

This year I hope to take part in another volunteering project because it is vitally important that we as students raise awareness about the issues and injustice that refugees and asylum seekers face in this country.

STAR offers great opportunities for us students to be a part of making a difference for people just like us, who have had to leave their countries, friends, and even families.

They have come to the UK for a better life free from persecution or war, but are often treated like criminals or otherwise not granted the rights that they have to receiving an education and living a life in dignity.

We may not be able to stop the wars in the countries of origin of asylum seekers and refugees, but we are able to help them in fighting for their rights and making sure that their hardship is not overlooked.

Lene Guercke
London Metropolitan STAR

I was one of those who signed up to almost everything at Fresher’s Fair but unlike most I didn’t unsubscribe in mass after a week or so. It was good thing because I needed a few weeks before I went along to my first STAR meeting.

I didn’t know too much about seeking asylum in the UK but I think three years with STAR has made refugees a clearer topic for me. I believe strongly that people seeking sanctuary in the UK must be treated fairly.

Still I cannot identify with what seeking sanctuary means. I think that has been the hardest thing to talk to students about when petitioning for campaigns on the student concourse or promoting positive images of refugees and asylum seekers at events. Here on this small island it is hard to imagine that such bad things happen to people in “modern” times.

But you really don’t need a good imagination to acknowledge persecution after meet asylum seekers and refugees and I could quickly grasp some of their realities.

At Southampton STAR we worked with adults in a local drop-in centre. We invited one young asylum seeker onto our campus to talk at one of our weekly meetings and then to join us for a bite to eat in our canteen and a performance at our theatre. He was once a student like us and needed to mix with people around his own age.

We also worked in after-school projects for primary and secondary schools. Last year one of our homework clubs benefited from an evaluation report from a professional consultancy employed by STAR National. The consultants visited the project, spoke to volunteers, project leaders, parents and the refugee children. Parents described the clubs as quiet and safe places to learn and the children wanted the club to happen more than twice a week whilst the consultants suggested introducing field trips to the universities and museums.

STAR volunteers at the club included international students who found common ground with the children through their own childhood experiences “of being a stranger in a different country”. As time passed, volunteers could also see how the children became tutors themselves as well as learners: “seeing the children teaching each other is lovely”.

I have now graduated from university and my STAR group, but I’ve joined the Friends of STAR mailing list to keep up-to-date with STAR activities every few months.

Being part of the STAR network encouraged me to look at a global issue that’s very close to home and empowered me to believe that I could and was doing something about it.

Paulette Amadi

I first came across the Conversation Club in Sheffield when I found one of the best little kitchen books I now own – ‘Food For Thought’ – a cook book of dishes from around the world written by asylum seekers at Conversation Club.

When I looked further in to what this club was the website said that it was started by STAR and Sheffield Refugee Friendship Group in 2002, and was designed to give asylum seekers a safe place to meet people they knew and new people from Sheffield, to practice languages and get to know each other. It sounded a fun way of getting involved in a local charity!

Apprehensive that I wouldn’t be spoken to at first, but feeling brave, I went along to the class between lectures on a Wednesday. At first I thought my fears had come true and I did sit for quite a while by myself amongst crowds of men, but once their curiousity had got the better of them I was offered some very very very strong coffee (that they brought along themselves to share) and by the end of the hour I knew the names of everyone’s family members and their kind thoughts on the people of Sheffield. I even got a few proposals of marriage!

It was obvious that Conversation Club was a place where asylum seekers felt they could meet each other comfortably, without feeling like they were going to be moved on or asked questions they couldn’t answer. It also became obvious that they had little else to do, since they have no right to work and only £35.52 a week in cash to spend from the Home Office.

When making small talk to help people with their English I asked them their plans for the next week or month or even year, their answers were confused – what is there to do?

This sense of helplessness and lack of freedom are illustrated well by a conversation I had with a Kurdish man who had been on the move since he was a child caught up in the 8 year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

Now in his early 30s, he’d never had a job, and it was his dream to work. When I asked him what sort of job he’d like, he said “any”. When I asked what job he would like to do if he could do any in the world, regardless of money, status or time, he thought for a long time but just couldn’t answer the question, and ended up laughing a lot at me for asking it!

I realised it was the ridiculous question of someone that had the luxury of imagination and hope. In the end he told me he wanted to be a teacher, but it was almost as if he hadn’t dared to think what he’d really want to do before then.

I’ve heard a lot of sad stories at Conversation Club, it was not uncommon for people to have friends who had committed suicide through their frustration at the British asylum system.

But there was as much fun too. My favourite was the art table, it was interesting to paint portraits and create new individual things with people – it’s important to see someone’s personality rather than their status as an ‘asylum seeker’.

I like the potential for Conversation Club to be a mutual learning experience, to become more of a swap than an English lesson.

Though Conversation Club encourages people to come to help asylum seekers – I think it can be just as valuable to those settled in this country if experienced as more of a cultural or language exchange. Sharing knowledge helps to boost everyone’s self esteem, and as I discovered at Conversation Club: every person certainly has knowledge or a skill valuable to share.

Natasha Vavere
3rd Year student, Human Geography
Sheffield University

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 learnt 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.

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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.

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