Thursday, October 21, 2010
Reflections on being a STAR member
Paulette Amadi looks back on 3 years as a Southampton STAR member and twice volunteer at the STAR national office. “Being part of the STAR network encouraged me to look at a global issue that’s very close to home…”
Paulette, Southampton 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
Posted by STAR team on 21/10/2010 at 04:59 PM
in Group News
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