Friends Without Borders helps asylum seekers and refugees and assist to access support when few other services remain accessible to them. We help and support or signpost to other agencies, asylum seekers through the process of gaining refugee status.
We help destitute asylum seekers living in the local community of Portsmouth by providing the All Saints Drop-in every Thursday from 10-1pm. . The Drop-in provides support and advice without appointment. The Access to Justice project has an experienced advisor who provides legal advice to individuals who do not have access to a free legal advisor. We are registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commisioner (OISC)
Here are some reflections and testimonials from people who have used both our drop-in service and have been befriended by volunteer visitors whilst in detention (our major project until the closure of Haslar IRC in April 2015).
We help destitute asylum seekers living in the local community of Portsmouth by providing the All Saints Drop-in every Thursday from 10-1pm. . The Drop-in provides support and advice without appointment. The Access to Justice project has an experienced advisor who provides legal advice to individuals who do not have access to a free legal advisor. We are registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commisioner (OISC)
Here are some reflections and testimonials from people who have used both our drop-in service and have been befriended by volunteer visitors whilst in detention (our major project until the closure of Haslar IRC in April 2015).
The Life I missed
"I come from Liberia and my life has been quite a lot of hassle with family, lack of proper childhood and education because of war. One year everything is okay and coming normal and then next month it kicks off again. Your village is attacked and you escape by nearest exit. Sometimes you get separated from your family. You can’t cross through the village in an attack. When the military hit, you just have to run, you can’t return home. You miss your family but sometimes you find them later in the refugee camp." Click here to read more.
Ex detainee. Now with refugee status.
"In my country I was in prison and they beat me. They would give you tasks to do that were impossible to complete and then beat you for failing to complete them. It was something to endure. I got through it with endurance.
In the UK, I have been in and out of detention four times. Nobody beat me but I really lost my strength and my will. They play with your mind. I was so stressed, I became confused and had dizzy spells. I fell and hit the floor with my head. I really feared I was losing my mind."
Ex-detainee detained for 28 months
"I met Haslar Visitors Group when I was in Haslar in 2011. You came to the detention centre and asked me about my situation and gave me a phone. Every week a visitor came to see me – she helped me a lot with good advice and calmed me down." Click here to read more.
Ex-detainee, still on bail, released 4 years ago
"On the outside it seems like I’m handling it but on the inside its tearing me to bits. Sometimes my partner just cries and cries and I blame myself. Sometimes I go out in the middle of the night and walk and walk and walk till my feet hurt."
A client who has experienced visits from Friends Without Borders volunteers in detention and support from the drop-in
"I was in Haslar IRC for about 3 months but it seemed like eternity as it is the most depressing place I can ever imagine to be.
The thing that kept us going while in there were the positives we could muster in ourselves and the visits and assistance from HVG [previous name]." Click here to read more.
A client who was in detention for 9 months before being released to be with their family
"Gillian-Assistant Coordinator visited me. My esteem was very low at that point, but through that visit, I felt much better. My relations could not visit because they were full-time caring for one relative, so the Group’s visit was uplifting. I was introduced to a HVG [previous name] visitor, whose visits were immensely therapeutic, psychologically and emotionally." Click here to read more.
Experience of arriving in the UK with no support
"I am a medical practitioner who came to the UK in 2008. I was immediately detained and put in a prison. The officers were polite enough but no one had any knowledge of how to deal with my case and were not able to help. I kept asking myself and others questions like “why am I here”; what is my crime”; “what will be the outcome of this”. There were no answers." Click here to read more.
Reflection after returning home
"I hope everybody is doing well. I wish to express my sincere thanks to you guys at HVG [previous name]. I was at Haslar for few weeks and the situations I witnessed there gave me the conviction that without your help many people will be in total darkness as to what to do either to get out or have a smooth departure to their home countries. Due to your help, you managed to get my belonging to me so that I felt OK when I arrived in my home country." Click here to read more.
Friends Without Borders, All Saints Centre, Commercial Road, Portsmouth, PO1 4BT, Phone: 023 9283 9222 mobile 07546 502143
Our registered charity number is: 1194005
Our registered charity number is: 1194005
