A couple of weeks ago on Twitter there was a flurry of promotion for a new account, City of Sanctuary Manchester. I'd heard a little about the movement in other cities so clicked through to the webpage and saw they were looking for support. I've done various bits of volunteer work in the past and it's sometimes tricky to feel that you'll be able to make a difference in a new group but I got in touch with their only paid member of staff, the enthusiastic Lynda.
Later that week I found myself with my coat still on boiling kettles of water for tea and coffee at their monthly conversation club and being introduced to a everyone in sight. The City of Sanctuary movement is about making refugees and asylum seekers feel welcome in a city through simple acts such as the conversation club and engaging with local businesses and organisations.
I'll be first to admit that small talk and making conversation is not my strong point but I recognised a few faces and received an overwhelmingly warm welcome from those I didn't. Us newbies were politely warned about the 'welcome wave' a modified Mexican wave with everyone saying welcome in a language of our choice. Much less intimidating than it sounds and a great way to get everything started.
Following a raucous game of apples, oranges and bananas resulting in one person making it onto the floor members settled down in smaller teams to plan for the future. People from all walks of life, countries of origin and with every immigration status sat side by side and shared their visions. Improving marketing and communications for the group came up lots of times in our discussion along with getting in speakers to help newcomers understand more about their new home.
The giving out of travel expenses at the end of the session was a stark reminder of the situation faced by some of the attendees. Many refugees find it difficult to find work through their skills not being recognised and language barriers, asylum seekers live off around £35 a week and are not allowed to work. 'Failed' asylum seekers or those appealing decisions, whilst still in the UK legally, are left banned from working and sometimes with no benefits and homeless. A few I recognised in the group have been recently detained by the borders agency and are facing deportation to a country where they've been abused and tortured.
Refugees are a great and diverse group to work with. After reading the negative press and experiencing rudeness or even hate crime newcomers to Manchester are really pleased when 'local' people want to give their time to help out. This is one of the reasons that the City of Sanctuary movement exists in the first place and a big part of why I wanted to support them.
Over the last week I've spent some time drafting a communications plan for them and hope to work with sanctuary seekers to develop their skills and allow them to take over the communications for the group. Volunteering in this way will allow me to develop the skills I use day to day in my role and learn more about how to effectively target an audience made hard to reach through language, poverty and digital exclusion.
It's always a bit intimidating doing something new but having got to know people over a few weeks I'm really pleased I made the effort to get involved. I've already learned so much through meeting the members and am hoping I might even pick up a bit of Arabic - at least just 'welcome.'
Find out more about Manchester City of Sanctuary here: http://www.cityofsanctuary.org/manchester
Follow them on Twitter: @ManchesterCoS
No comments:
Post a Comment