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At Herts Welcomes Refugees we are saddened to learn that the Illegal Migration Bill will become law. We endorse the position of the Refugee Council at https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/information/what-is-the-illegal-migration-bill/
"They're like friends, they're like family.' Today we hear some lovely feedback on our work from Marcus, who has just been offered a scholarship to study plumbing at a local College.   It's Refugee Week! The theme this year is Compassion.
Look out for our posts on social media every day this week, and watch our videos on our special new Refugee Week page. Each day during Volunteers' Week we posted some quotes from some of our amazing volunteers, to celebrate their contribution and inspire others. You can see all of these on our Volunteers Week page. If you would like to volunteer, take a look at our Volunteering page and if you can spare a little time get in touch at enquiries@hwsf.org.uk, we would love to hear from you!  Celebrating our wonderful volunteers! Herts Welcomes Refugees were delighted that two of our volunteers, Anne and Pete, were invited to afternoon tea at Mill Green Mill and Museum with the Mayor of Welwyn Hatfield. Thank you to all our amazing volunteers #volunteersweek2023  It's Volunteers' Week! All week we are posting quotes from our inspiring volunteers on our social media. Take a sneak preview at Volunteers Week 2023 A Ukrainian woman and her small son are in danger of being moved from Hatfield, where the little boy is happily settled in The Ryde school, to Luton when their Homes4Ukrainians sponsorship ends this Friday, June 2nd. After the trauma of leaving home and family in Ukraine the mother has found a job she loves and she and her son have made friends locally. Can anyone accommodate them in the Hatfield area and save them from having to move yet again? Please contact Deborah Ronchetti - debbiej08@hotmail.com - for further details.   We are delighted to introduce Ruhena Akhtar, our new Volunteer Coordinator.
We asked Ruhena a bit about herself and she told us she was brought up in North Hertfordshire with a background working for corporate organisations and charities. Ruhena is a practicing psychotherapist/counsellor with her own private practice and is a passionate advocate of mental health and combating abuse and harmful practices. Ruhena has an interest in charities and has been involved in charitable projects and community work for many years, including working with asylum seekers and refugees at a law firm and a refuge. With a migrant background herself, she says she is looking forward to helping @hertswelcomesrefugees to make a positive impact and we love her quote: "We never know what one ripple will make in a person’s life, we should thrive for a positive one". 🙏🏻Ruhena, we all look forward to working with you! If you would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch via enquiries@hwsf.org.uk It was magic! to see the smiles and sheer joy on the faces of refugee children at the magic show by Jamie Jibberish, Humanitarian Magician from @MagicForSmiles, organised by @HertsWelcomes. The faces of the children (and even the adults!) were priceless as they marvelled at how Jamie did his magic tricks. These were received with chatter, laughter and smiles, with the children keen to join in. One mother said “Thank you so much. We really needed this. Not just the children. We all really needed this. Thank you.” Jamie’s show emphasizes unity and friendship to refugee children from many different countries, helping them smile through difficult times. After five years as our Volunteer Coordinator, Caroline Herring is retiring. She’ll soon be travelling across the UK and Europe in her new motor home. We caught up with her to hear about her experiences with our charity. Caroline says: “I was attracted to the job at Herts Welcomes because I wanted to work more altruistically. I’d never worked with refugees before. I was teaching English as a foreign language. It was a steep learning curve. I thought I understood the learners’ situation, but because they’re refugees it’s very different. Most of the people I’d taught before had a good formal education, they were used to school and learning a language. But some of the refugees were illiterate in their own language, and they’d been thrown into the situation. Many were traumatised and not in the right frame of mind. It’s interesting because so many of the texts for teaching English show people living quite materialistic lives. These were irrelevant topics for refugees. They needed much more functional language to survive. But my role wasn’t all about teaching. There was lots of counselling, talking, listening. I became more sympathetic to the situation of refugees, especially for the older people who’ve been pulled out of their cultural environment. It’s really difficult for them. Some of the refugees have become my friends. It means a lot to be able to help people at the beginning of their journey. To see them become empowered. I remember once I took somebody to have a tooth out and she insisted that I come in when I brought her home. Her husband had cooked. We sat on the floor with the children eating bread, eggs and tomatoes. It was a really rewarding experience. The volunteers have been lovely. We put out a request and somebody will respond. Yes, I can do that. I’ve got one of those! It’s been amazing the resourcefulness of everyone, the eagerness to help, the compassion. A big part of my role involved training volunteers and supporting them as they began working within our charity. I’ve been moved by the generosity and altruism of our committee member and volunteers, everyone is so willing and flexible. I’ll continue to volunteer at the local hotel with HWR. Helping out whenever needed, however I can.”  Caroline in her new campervan |