FRIENDS WITHOUT BORDERS
  • Home
  • About us
    • News
    • Who we help
    • How we help
    • Why we help
    • Our volunteers
    • Annual Reports
    • How we use your data
  • All Saints Drop-in
    • About the All Saints Drop-in
    • How to get to the All Saints Drop-in
  • Access to Justice Project
  • Get involved
    • Ways you can volunteer
    • Make a donation
    • Some easy ways to raise money for FWB
    • Leave a lasting legacy
  • Contact Us
  • Thank You

news

Chairman’s Report on 2018

20/3/2019

 

A Good Year

​Our twenty fifth year was a good one with a lot of volunteers and a lot of new initiatives. We now have a “hostel” (a caravan) for three homeless men. Stephen Morgan MP is holding monthly surgeries in the dropin for our clients and the new volunteers include a teacher so we have increased the English classes. A small group has been formed to work on a Community Allotment and a client who is a barber brings his clippers every couple of weeks to provide free haircuts. A lot of people are doing what they can to make the bad situation of refugees a bit better.

Generous Supporters

We’ve also had some generous support from people who can’t come to the Dropin. Two legacies have come in during the year and this has enabled us to raise the amount we give destitute asylum seekers from £15 to £20 a week. We help with other expenses too - such as when people making fresh claims have to travel to Liverpool to do so. This is a particularly mean requirement of the Home Office aimed at “failed” refugees who are not allowed to work, not housed, excluded from the Welfare State and not given any money at all. We give them a straight hundred pounds for Liverpool trips and suggest they sleep on the coach. If they book early they might even get a little change and be able to buy lunch when they get there.
 
It isn’t just legacies which have sustained us, the church has been particularly helpful – the Anglican Bishop nominated us for his Lent Appeal and one or two parishes have made noteworthy donations. Our biggest and most dependable income comes from our monthly donors.
Picture
Mabel, a new volunteer, with a client (©Michael Woolley)

Let them Work

During 2018 we affiliated with more than 80 charities, think tanks, faith groups, businesses and trade unions to launch the ‘Lift the Ban’ campaign calling on the Government to grant the right to work to people seeking asylum. The campaign makes the case that being allowed to work would support people’s integration into new communities, allow them dignity and improve their health and wellbeing. It features new statistics which reveal:
  • 94% would like to work;
  • 65% were working before they came here;
  • 74% had a secondary education while 37% had a degree.
The report also looks at the economic case for lifting the ban and suggests that this could substantially help the Government through increased tax revenues and savings on asylum support payments.
Picture
A full room at a recent dropin (©Michael Woolley)

Signing On

​A perfectly reasonable Home Office requirement for asylum seekers is that they sign on at regular intervals. Asylum Seekers in Portsmouth used to have to sign on at the police station in Portsmouth but that has now been changed to Fareham, 11 miles away. They are occasionally arrested when they sign which makes the day very stressful. Hearing about this one of our supporters, the Vicar of Holy Trinity Fareham, takes herself down to the police station on signing days and hangs about outside, introducing herself and inviting signers to have a coffee nearby. All the signers and all the immigration officers are based in Portsmouth so signing in Fareham is inconvenient for everyone. It is also expensive – we pay bus fares for a number of clients, costing us around £100 a month.
 
Portsmouth Police Station is being rebuilt but apparently it hasn’t yet been decided if the new station will be suitable for signing. One would have thought it could have been included in the architect’s brief.
 
Ongoing projects
  • Access to Justice ProjectAccess to Justice continues.
  • Journeys Festival (not an FWB project though we worked closely in 2017) continues the refugee-themed Arts Festival
  • The Vigil for Refugees will be in Portsmouth this year, at St Thomas’s Cathedral.
 

Retirements

​During 2018 we have said “goodbye” to Philip Hudson who was a splendid    book-keeper for many years and Helen Burchett who started the “Children’s Corner” and made it a tremendous success. Many thanks to both of them.
 
Helen is stepping back but maintaining her links with the charity which is what I want to do myself - having reached 75 I hope to retire as Chairman but carry on doing some of the hands-on work. It is a good moment, Friends Without Borders is thriving, we have a lot of good new volunteers and some very faithful and generous supporters. It has been a great privilege to be Chairman of such a dynamic group for the last five years. And a great privilege to work with our amazingly cheerful clients.

Michael Woolley
Chairman ​


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    November 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    May 2024
    March 2024
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    October 2021
    June 2021
    November 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    March 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About us
    • News
    • Who we help
    • How we help
    • Why we help
    • Our volunteers
    • Annual Reports
    • How we use your data
  • All Saints Drop-in
    • About the All Saints Drop-in
    • How to get to the All Saints Drop-in
  • Access to Justice Project
  • Get involved
    • Ways you can volunteer
    • Make a donation
    • Some easy ways to raise money for FWB
    • Leave a lasting legacy
  • Contact Us
  • Thank You