Fraser Allen Talks to 'Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees'

Here at Fraser Allen, it is incredibly important to us that the residents living within our managed developments feel safe, secure and have a lovely place to live. With this in mind, and as a lot of our developments are in Cheltenham, we wanted to speak with a group of volunteers from ‘Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees’ to better understand the background to this charity and how they help refugees who arrive in the area.

The ethos upheld by Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees, echoes our own mission to support, assist and create a safe environment for our residents and a kind and understanding approach to management.

The theme for Refugee Week this year is Imagine. Refugee Week takes place every June around the same time as World Refugee Day. I don’t think any of us can imagine how it must feel to desperately need to leave the only country that you know to flee poverty, war and in some cases horrific violence.

Packing up all of your belongings, your family, your children, to travel to a new country in generally turbulent and dangerous conditions to simply try and find a better life. There are estimated to be nearly 26 million people, half of them under 18, who have fled their countries, with 80% of them living in countries neighbouring their country of origin such as Bangladesh, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Uganda. Another 41 million have been displaced from their homes within their own country.

Maggie Powell told us “We started in 2015 as an awareness-raising group. It was the summer with all those terrible pictures of families trying to cross the Mediterranean to safety in over-crowded and fragile boats.

But then, in 2016, Syrian families started coming to Cheltenham under the Government’s Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.They have been coming pretty regularly since then and there are now more than 30. The long-established Gloucestershire charity,GARAS, have workers who help with getting people settled, children into schools, everyone signed up with the NHS, starting English classes, help with getting into work. But we provide social contacts, opportunities to practice English informally, activities for the children – and anything that makes people feel safe and welcome. And we can help the GARAS workers by helping prepare accommodation for newly arriving families – it’s always nice to have a few toys for the kids. We can give lifts and help in all sorts of ways.

The people of Cheltenham have proved incredibly generous so we have been able to find things like pushchairs and other equipment which make life more comfortable. Then, last year, the Home Office started placing a small number of asylum seekers in Cheltenham and we are in touch with about 10 of them. Their lives are much harder as they wait

to hear whether they are going to be allowed to stay – they are not allowed to work, have very limited access to college classes and are given an allowance of just £37.75 a week to live on (with a room provided). We can help in practical ways but we are finding that is the friendship and kindness that is most valued. You are my new family, a young man said recently. And like many families we can’t meet up at the moment but it is amazing what you can do with WhatsApp and Zoom!”

During the Covid-19 crisis, it has been even more important to be welcoming, to help those in need and to be inclusive. Lockdown has made us all feel isolated and picturing what the future may hold. What our new normal is going to be? How are we going to cope financially during and after this crisis? Can we use this new normal to create a brighter future?

Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees have always been so kind and generous with their work to help refugees and people seeking asylum. It is their mission to help them find the independence they deserve and to find opportunities for them to flourish and connect with others.

They have created many events such as their summer picnics, where they have dancers, musicians, singers, face painting, art and craft and storytelling.

They find second-hand bicycles so that asylum seekers can find their way around town without needing to spend their very limited allowance on bus fare. With Cheltenham becoming a Home Office settlement centre back in 2019, Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees quickly responded to establish a support and resource network and weekly hub meeting so that people had a safe, warm place to chat.

For more information about anything relating to the above, please visit www.cheltenhamwelcomesrefugees.org.uk or www.refugeeweek.org.uk