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At the end of September two families from Hitchin spent an afternoon in the picturesque village of Preston at the kind invitation of deputy lord-lieutenants, Joyce Plotnikoff and Richard Woolfson. After hearing a presentation about our charity, Joyce and Richard decided to extend their own welcome to two refugee families who live locally to them. The families’ visit included a walk through the village to the school, where a game of football had been arranged with some local residents. Afterwards, the families were invited for tea and cakes at the home of the deputy lord-lieutenants. Everyone really appreciated the afternoon out, as well as the kindness of our new supporters. 
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 We’re delighted to announce that Herts Welcomes Syrian Families will now be known as Herts Welcomes Refugees.
We are now helping refugees who come to Hertfordshire from all over the world, and we wanted to have a more inclusive name to reflect our work. Last Thursday, our members voted on this change and the motion was passed. For the time being, we are keeping our website domain and our e-mail addresses. You can still donate via our website or Virgin Money Giving, however we ask that cheques now be made out to ‘Herts Welcomes Refugees’. We will let you know about any other changes soon! Thank you for your support!  Photo credit: Dan Jones Last night, Herts Welcomes Refugees received much-needed pledges of £4,700 to support and develop our Language Support and Befriender Network. This was part of The Funding Network’s crowdfunding event, which let our charity pitch alongside two other worthy charities: Herts Inclusive Theatre and Dacorum Community Trust. An amazing £14,000 was raised in total for the three charities. Our chair, Irene Austin, and our Dacorum Convenor, Kate Scott, gave a presentation about our organisation and its growing volunteer network. While Iman, a Syrian refugee, spoke movingly about the volunteer who’d helped her to improve her English. We were so pleased with the outpouring of support, which exceeded our expectations. With gift aid the amount may reach £5,000 - a fantastic result!
The film, Suspended, made in conjunction with Herts Welcomes Syrian Families is now available to watch!
To find out more about the filmmakers, you can read our interview here: https://www.hwsf.org.uk/news/filming-a-refugees-story Exciting News: HWSF is honoured to be one of three charities who will get to pitch for funding at the annual TFN (The Funding Network) Herts event. We will have a short time to pitch and answer questions at this event on 8th October in St Albans before a live crowdfunding pledging session begins. We hope to raise £4,000 to support our volunteer network and could really use YOUR support in the audience on the evening. We have a few free tickets for our supporters and volunteers: contact Irene by e-mailing chair@hwsf.org.uk
Or you can buy a ticket here: https://live.protectedpayments.net/pm3API/asp/PMWeb1… Please join us for this exciting evening if you can. For more information: https://www.thefundingnetwork.org.uk/events/tfn-herts/1836  In December 2016, Syrian teenager Karim arrived with his family in Hertfordshire. He could speak very little English, but he was welcomed into his new community by members of HWSF and the Refugee Council. Now, Karim is headed to the University of Birmingham having earned an A* in Physics and an A in Maths and Chemistry. Karim has shown impressive determination in his pursuit of an education. He took his first job in the UK about a month after arriving. “I was trying to surround myself with people who spoke English so I could speak it myself,” he said. “I worked hard on the ESOL course so I could acquire a good enough level of English to do A levels in the next academic year and not do ESOL for another year.” He faced significant challenges and set-backs, but managed to maintain good study habits throughout. He explained, “Young Syrians have so much talent and they never cease to prove it, however, sometimes it is easy to lose faith. I think people need to keep focused on their goals and have faith and patience as the process might take a long time.” Karim told us that he’d decided to study Nuclear Engineering because of its potential to be “colossally beneficial to humanity” as non-renewable resources become scarce. He credits his secondary school physics teacher for drawing his attention to the subject. “He kept telling us about how we can produce enormous amounts of energy from mere nucleons that even exist in water,” Karim said. “I started reading articles about it and about its potential which really appealed to me and made me want to be a part of it.” After graduating with his degree, Karim hopes to either pursue a PhD in Nuclear Fusion or to work in the nuclear industry. We wish him all the best as he begins his university career!   In August the families from Stevenage and North Herts enjoyed a day trip to the seaside together. After the coach arrived in Southend, the children rushed to splash and swim in the sea along with some of the adults. A few families had brought camping stoves to brew coffee on the beach and everyone was happy to share out the delicious food they’d packed for their picnics. The children were excited to spot two jellyfish and attempted to scoop up a tiny crab. After the water receded, a passerby with a metal detector taught the children how the machine worked. Before long, several of the children were digging in the sand to uncover a twenty pence piece. One of the girls told a volunteer: “I had never seen the tide go out so far.” Other children mentioned how much they’d enjoyed playing football in the sand, swimming in the sea, and drinking slushies. A day spent relaxing and laughing with friends - both English and Syrian - made the trip a huge success.   Over the summer, an HWSF volunteer set up and hosted a mother and baby group at her home. She hopes to continue hosting these get-togethers, bringing together British and Syrian mums with their children. Here is what she had to say about the experience:
Caring for young children is joyful but it can also be isolating at times, especially when you don’t have family nearby. I think many mums experience this and appreciate the importance of having a network of other parents nearby to support them. This is why we decided to have get-togethers for the Syrian mums with pre-school children in the Hitchin and Letchworth area. We planned it as a group playdate with some British mums who have children of a similar age. There were toys for the toddlers and tea and biscuits for the mums. The children played together and made friends in the garden while we mums had a chat. While there are other local mother and baby groups, some of which the mothers already go to, this smaller group made it easier for the Syrian mothers to join in the conversation and practice their English. We hope that the mothers will now spot each other around the area – at the baby clinics or school gates – and have a friendly face to talk to. All the mums involved said they enjoyed the group so we hope to make this a regular gathering. ---- Rose, HWSF Volunteer  HWSF has raised £3,000 towards our goal of £10,000 in our laptop appeal.
We want to provide standard laptops and software packages for twenty-four of the refugee families resettled in Hertfordshire with the most pressing need. Previously, HWSF worked to refurbish donated laptops but we have decided that it is more effective to buy new standardised equipment. Although there are now 53 resettled families in Hertfordshire, we are prioritising the families with children at secondary school or college as well as those who do not have adequate equipment for job searches. You can donate towards this project here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1016803 Families from St Albans, Hertsmere and Hatfield came together with HWSF volunteers for a shared lunch and activities at Dagnall Street Baptist Church in July. It was great to see so many families taking part and enjoying spending time together. The food was superb and children had lots of fun doing crafts, playing games and having their faces painted. The highlight of the afternoon was the giant Jenga which went on all afternoon with both children and adults taking part . Pass the Parcel and musical chairs were popular with the younger children. We’d like to send a big thank you to Dagnall Street Baptist Church for hosting the event and to all those who helped.  |
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