June 2010: Slough Refugee Support
With Rose Njoroge, Drop-in Coordinator and Emmanuel Munyambuga, Refugee Integration Project Coordinator.
Slough has one of the highest numbers of asylum seekers and refugees in Britain. Slough Refugee Support (SRS) started very informally at the local Methodist church; refugees attending the church needed help with basics such as clothing, food and household items, and some also needed legal representation. As demand increased, the service moved to larger offices.
Last year, SRS helped over 1200 people from around forty counties of origin, including Afghanistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe and Iraq.
The majority of clients have ‘indefinite leave to remain’ or asylum seeker status; although most were looking for help with immigration issues, clients often have wide ranging problems involving poverty, homelessness or difficulties finding work. SRS runs a morning drop-in service where clients’ needs are initially assessed; clients are able to book time with staff in the afternoon for more detailed casework, for example where they have complex forms to complete or where they need multi-agency support. Church Urban Fund is currently supporting the drop-in service. “The average number of clients per session ranges between 10 and 12,” Rose explained. “If we were not here many of our clients would suffer. We also use surveys and every time clients ask us to open for longer than we are able to, so clients are always asking for more!
SRS has a small staff team, which is complemented by a large group of volunteers. Many of the volunteers are former refugees and asylum seekers themselves, with personal experience of the asylum process. Many volunteers have valuable skills, such as fluency in the community languages spoken by clients. Rose Njoroge, the drop-in service co-ordinator, explains: “Volunteer help is key to our job … If we didn’t have volunteers it would be very difficult to provide an effective and efficient service to our clients.”
SRS goes beyond dealing with critical issues, and runs a number of activities to help clients to settle in the community. Emmanuel Muyambuga manages the Refugee Integration project at SRS: “The bottom line is to involve refugees as much as possible because we think and believe that yes, they need some help, but they also need a platform in order to help themselves in the future.” A large part of refugee integration involves teaching English and helping clients to find work through a job club, which includes adjusting to British life and culture. SRS also works with children and young people, and is developing a forum to help clients come to terms with why they became refugees, and to help them to share their experiences of life in Britain. “We try to demystify what refugees are,” Emmanuel says, “and to portray a positive image of refugees, because they’re not here just to milk the system as some sections of the media seem to report, but because they [are] fearing for their lives.”
