Volunteering with asylum seekers and refugees

[Lemniscate8]

There is so much said on MN about asylum seekers and refugees, and often it is speaking about them as a block, rather than by people who know any as individuals.

AIBU to suggest that some of you who currently feel fear and hostility have a go at some volunteering to get to know one or more individuals and see if your feelings change?

There are lots of ways to get involved in helping welcome a refugee to the country, and maybe more people extending more welcome will help with intergration, which seems to be one of the main concerns of some posters.

Many places have volunteers facilitating english conversation sessions, or literacy support. Many councils look for volunteers to support refugee and asylum seeker children in schools, you can ask your local council, or one of the main refugee organisations what volunteering opportunities are available in your area.

Also volunteering with any homeless charity is ineviatably going to bring you into contact with refugees, as so many are sleeping rough

You can find out about people first hand, rather than through the right wing press. Personal relationships can only help people understand each other better

I think normal behaviour would be, if a country is so dangerous that people need to flee, that children, their mothers and the elderly would be prioritized. Young men leaving behind their vulnerable family members to make an unnecessary trip across half the world in the hope that a country they have no ties to will take them in, is really not normal behaviour.

Like happened in Ukraine. Children and some women left, adults able to fight stayed. That's normal behaviour.

Sorry, forgot to add, it does make sense if you come from a country where generally men regard women as being of zero value. Like Afghanistan, which the UN ranks as being the worst country in the world to be a woman in.

Depends on whether leaving them behind is more perilous than the boat crossing. We’re lead to believe that many if not most of these men are escaping certain death. The regimes in these countries would take revenge in some format, usually by killing the families of the people escaping. It’s not unusual for this to happen. If my family were in danger of being killed or tortured if I escaped, I would bring them with me. Because to do a perilous journey might be a better alternative than to be left behind.

In that case, I'm sorry she said that, or felt that way. Perhaps she didn't understand the gravity of the situation. Or perhaps she did, in which case, your feelings are understandable.

Didn't you say something about vaccines though?

You're right OP and I can't see what is remotely patronising about your post, as suggested by some. Unfortunately the prevailing view expressed on MN is intolerance of immigrants so I don't think you'll get much support here.

I think there is a bit of a misconception about single men claiming asylum. Most do travel with their families, and the ones who don't it is often becasue the family is already dead. men are more likely to survive in natural or manmade disasters. Some do travel alone and leave their families behind, but it isn't the majority.

It is the worst country for women because it's currently ruled by the Taliban. The Taliban are not representative of all Afghani men, any more than the IRA are representative of all Catholics.

No, I'm sorry, this is simply not true. Afghanistan is a wildly misogynistic country, and it is very much not just the Taliban. I do voluntary work for a charity that provides online education for women and girls stuck in Afghanistan who are fortunate enough to have access to the internet, and I'm afraid the idea that it's only the Taliban responsible is bollocks. I'm fed up of this kind of well meaning lack of interest in the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

This is really where I have left behind the "progressive" left over the last few years. Women and girls are always an afterthought, if they are thought of at all.

@Noodledog and of course unlike the Taliban, the IRA or even Sinn Fein were never in charge of Ireland so a terrible analogy.

There are no vaccines for sleep apnoea?

But yes, of course I railed against her insanity.

Frankly, you can absolutely go bollocks. I am not, by birth “middle class”. I grew up poor. I am the first in my family to go to finish school, the first to go to university, the first to own a property. And, as it happens, I’ve been very good at it and I’m very successful now. And more than that, I’m not a sanctimonious, judgmental cow, which means more to me than all the many £££££ in the bank.
I worked with Asylum seekers when I didn’t have really anything, I was young and frankly naive. And do you know what they were? Polite and kind and friendly. Never once was I threatened or harassed or bullied. They behaved better than many of the posters I see on here.
It’s not my job anymore, but I still support asylum seekers and they are still the same. You may have “projects” and things you “virtue signal” around the dinner table. I do not. Do not judge everyone by your own sub par standards. Do better.

😂If you say so, more facts pulled from nowhere. Defending that halo that is quickly petering out and becoming quite dull must be quite tiring.

Public option is not on your side Im afraid. I would also love to know what you said earlier about the UK taking its fair share and would be judged, By whom and how are you defining fare share? whos fare share and compared to who?

More strawman rubbish.

Perhaps you could have learned something from them? You know, to be polite, kind and friendly.

The ‘be kind’ brigade are always so angry.

No dear, you are simply ignorant and ill informed.

You sound just like a naive tourist that visits a third world country and states its fine! everyone was lovely and they all looked really happy. 🙄

Bollocks, you know sod all about living with them, those who sing their praises who volunteer virtually never have to live with with them or near them or suffer as a result of them. its all viewed through a lense of the short time your playing good Samaritan with a select few.

100% agree with this.

Why?

If someone said “I don’t want women coming into the country”, would you think that was reasonable?

Its not facts pulled from nowhere, it is govenment statistics, 58% of adult asylum seekers are men.

I will explain again about the change in the system. As it stands, every country in the UN agrees to offer safety to genuine refugees, but that burden is very unevenly spread. Countries like Turkey and Lebanon take the vast majority, and each are supporting millions from neighbouring warzones, and neither country is rich, by any standard

The system for assessing asylum claims is also very hit and miss, with some countries being difficult to reach or having a very high bar.

The debate is about how to allocate refugees more fairly, which clearly has to be done. The idea is that anyone can make a claim for asylum from anywhere in the world, directly to the UN, who will process the claim and allocate the refugee to a country. Allocations that countries take will be based on size and wealth. We take so few right now, that when the new allocation system eventually goes online, our numbers will go up by likely more than one order of magnitude.

Well, this system has been in the pipeline for many years, and isn't agreed yet, but it will be, and no doubt many countries will argue and negotiate about what percentage of the worlds refugees they should take, but in the end, we will take our agreed allocation, (or leave the UN)

I hope I have explained that better. I tried to explain upthread, but I don't seem to have made it clear.

“We take so few right now, that when the new allocation system eventually goes online, our numbers will go up by likely more than one order of magnitude”

I can’t express how much I hope this doesn’t happen.

Do women commit 98% of the sexual and violent crimes that occur?

Women generally don't rape children, so I think people would probably be less upset.

I’d rather leave the UN.

I mean, I don’t want to speak on behalf of the poster, but thinking just a few initial thoughts they might have would be that men are more likely to raise the crime rate, particularly considering the social disadvantages they’re going to experience here (in addition to possible past trauma) are criminogenic factors…..men from highly conflicting cultures that don’t value women or our societal norms…..the general unbalancing of our population…..there’s probably many more.

and if you, or your family, or your decendents need to claim asylum in some one elses country one day?

We could all be refugees next month. No crystal balls, no guarantee it will never be us in that situation