CSV celebrates the contribution refugees and asylum seekers make to their local communities - Refugee Week 2006 (19-25 June).

CSV, the UK’s largest volunteering charity, is supporting projects that give refugees and asylum seekers the opportunity to dispel popular myths and demonstrate their positive contribution to communities. Gardening, charity shops and community radio all figure in the bid to improve acceptance.

Arnie Wickens CSV’s Assistant Director, says: “The current asylum process prevents those waiting for a decision on their refugee status from working and contributes to isolation, disrupting integration into the local community. Added to the psychological after-effects of persecution many refugees find the trauma they experience does not end with their arrival in the UK. Volunteering projects help refugees and asylum seekers make a positive contribution to their host community, it also helps reduce isolation and helps them to improve their English.”

CSV refugee projects across the country include:
Newcastle – Healthy Eating
CSV Community Connection in Newcastle helps refugees meet new people, improve their English and feel part of the community. The volunteers meet local young people to explain the reasons why they have fled to the UK and help rejuvenate an inner city allotment.  

CSV Community Connection project co-ordinator, Ciara Van Vogt says: “The refugees have volunteered with members of the local community at a city centre allotment to make a healthy food-producing garden. The volunteers come from all over the world, from Iraq to Chad and even Mongolia. Gardening has helped the volunteers immensely. They feel closer to the community and enjoy being able to be productive and contribute to the local area. Some of the volunteers have also gone into local schools to help dispel misconceptions of why they are in the UK. Their dramatic stories really leave a mark on the pupils, many are unaware of the serious reasons forcing people to leave their jobs and families behind in order to find safety in another country.”

Marguerite, a 37 year old refugee from Cameroon, says: “I love volunteering on the allotment, it is lovely to get out in the fresh air, and working with the land reminds me of the beautiful garden that I had at home in my country. It makes me very very happy!”

Ipswich – Radio Refuge

CSV Ipswich Media Clubhouse provides many opportunities for asylum seekers and refugees to volunteer and receive training. The Media Clubhouse is also running ‘Refugee Week 2006’ celebrations in Ipswich and Ipswich Community Radio operates entirely with volunteers providing a number of programmes for people who speak Farsi and Kurdish.

Veronica Chambers, CSV Ipswich Media Clubhouse, Project and Volunteer Coordinator, says: “The volunteers at the clubhouse get involved in events throughout the year which add to the cosmopolitan vibe of Ipswich and also help promote understanding of why persecuted people flee their families and homes to come to the UK. The volunteers also get involved in projects that directly improve the local community including sports road shows which encourage people in Ipswich to take up more sport and keep healthy.”

Mathais Edoh Agbenokoudji, a 29 year-old asylum seeker from Togo, says: “I never thought my dreams would come true before I began volunteering at CSV. Those doors that were closed to me are now wide open.”

London – Garden Therapy

Forest Farm Peace Garden in Hainault gives people who have experienced mental illness and trauma a place to relax and grow their own food. Funded by a London-based initiative called Capital Volunteering, which is backed by CSV and the London Development Centre, the Peace Garden uses gardening as a form of therapy. The volunteers have helped turn the overgrown area into a place of natural beauty, which is used by local people as a learning resource to find out more about nature and farming techniques. The volunteers produce organic vegetables, including spinach and garlic, for their own consumption.

Gareth Morgan, Forest Farm Peace Garden Co-ordinator says: “People are referred to us who have had extremely traumatic experiences. We find that the gardening is a form of therapy and the impact it has on the volunteers can be tremendous. I was told by one Turkish family that after volunteering at the Peace Garden they were able to sleep without nightmares for the first time.”

One of the volunteers at the Forest Farm Peace Garden is Ismail Osmani, aged 53 and an asylum seeker from Kosovo now living in Ilford.  Ismail has lived in the UK after fleeing war in his home country seven years ago.

Ismail says: “I like coming to the Peace Garden and spending time in the fresh air. My wife has depression and she feels much better when she comes here. I have made good friends, everyone helps each other in the garden and we share the food we grow.”

Glasgow - Give & Gain

CSV’s Give & Gain project gives refugees and asylum seekers the opportunity to volunteer with local charities, hospitals and Glasgow city council.  All volunteers have a support volunteer to help them gain access to training courses, part-time education and in cases of those with refugee status, employment.

Catherine Field, Business Development Manager for CSV, says "Volunteering gives refugees and asylum seekers an opportunity to meet local people, improve their English, use and develop new skills and make a positive and lasting contribution to their new community. At the same time the people and organisations they come into contact with through volunteering have gained a far greater understanding of the difficult experiences that these people face."

Amir Aryan Manesh, aged 28 and from Iran, lives in Knightwood, Glasgow. Amir volunteers through CSV’s Give & Gain with several Glasgow City Council departments, helping with street repairs and tending to local parks. Amir says: “Volunteering has been good for my confidence and improving my English. It has also helped me keep up the skills I gained from my civil engineering degree. I hope the volunteering will help me find employment in the future.”
  
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Further press information and photos of refugees volunteering: Paul Donohoe 020 7812 0037; pdonohoe@csv.org.uk www.csv.org.uk/press

For further information about Capital Volunteering visit www.capitalvolunteering.org.uk

Notes for Editors

1. Definitions

Refugee: A refugee is someone who has applied for asylum and has by law been granted refugee status.

Asylum seeker: An asylum seeker is someone who is waiting for their application to be recognised as a refugee to be considered by the Government.
 
2. CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Each year 195,000 people give 4.9 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV.

3. The focus of Capital Volunteering is on supporting people who are isolated due to their illness and whose confidence, self-esteem and social networks are undermined due to their experiences of mental ill-health. Through providing this support, the project may also help mental health service users re-gain entry into employment.  Capital Volunteering is backed by CSV and the London Development Centre.