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

Sorry, what does that mean?

Yes it does. Our policy on illegal immigration can be literally whatever we want it to be. If we say no asylum applications will be granted, then no asylum applications are granted and every illegal immigrant has to go. And there is no incentive for any more to come, as they know their application will be rejected and they'll be deported. We do not have to put up with people breaking into our country.

You are of course free to interpret my post as you wish, but it's not what I said.

@AnotherDayInParadise43 @MrsSkylerWhite You’re both wrong, actually.

Some asylum seekers are indeed illegal entrants, irrespective of whether or not they claim asylum or whether or not their claim is granted or refused. Not everyone who arrives in a small boat is an illegal entrant, irrespective of whether or not they have a passport or whether they claim asylum or whether any such claim is granted or refused. It’s all set out in the Home Office website if you fancy reading it.

Failed asylum seekers are not usually deported unless there are other factors involved; they are usually removed administratively. Deportation is something very different and has far more serious and long lasting implications.

And there is no UK law or anything in the Refugee Convention that requires someone to claim in the first safe country they come to. However, the Secretary of State may declare an asylum claim made by a person who has a connection to a safe third State inadmissible.

OP. Your post sounds like you are telling others they should volunteer with this particular group. Volunteering is just that, it is VOLUNTARY. My BF teaches English to refugees, that is her choice. I have my own worries and put all my energy into surviving each day. Not everyone has the luxury of time, health or economic security to offer help to others.

How I laughed OP

Middle-class SAHM women welcoming asylum seekers and refugees from the comfort of their large properties in Wimbledon Village, Blackheath and Hampstead. Kids in private school - no doubt ferried between home and after-school activities. Paid for by their high-earning partners!

Go and work in a job-centre for two years. It might just change your mind.

Saw it during Covid-19. Mumsnetters screamed 'Stay Home' whilst they ordered non-necessary goods off the internet. Never mind - they were happy to pop on a mask to receive a delivery! Expected the same from their delivery person too! Like, you are going to bother when you are working a long shift. I saw it in Royal Mail. The Complete Works of Shakespeare. Ditto Jane Austen and Dostoevsky all came through the pipeline. Waterstones sent out their books in clear packaging. The middle-classes needed to be entertained whilst the banana bread was cooking. Nobody cared about us. We were working in an environment where social distancing was impossible due to the very nature of the job. As the summer progressed (what summer? I worked permanent nights!) they ordered outdoor furniture which was very heavy to lift and took two people to carry (face to face usually).

Then came the hairdressing scissors and home eyebrow dye kits. How I laughed. Salons were open if you knew where to look! You only had to look on Gumtree.

So you expect folk to work five night shifts a week in a bad-breaking environment and go and volunteer? Are you having a laugh mate?

Crack on.

These people are like something out of a badly written satirical sketch.

Asking someone else why they're so 'bloody hostile'. I constantly see you being snarky and hostile to people who disagree with you.

That’s silly.

People can be supportive without benefiting.

Im in the bottom 10pc of socioeconomic groups. I support asylum seekers.

I do think the processing should be faster and decisions made so that people can then work and contribute.

That doesn’t work if you are out much of the day and live in a one bed.

I actually want to volunteer with refugees.

Huh? Why is the only form of volunteering you can think having people sleep on your living room? I have volunteered at children’s centres,
homeless charities and a respite care facilty for parents of children with autism and not once did that involve people sleeping on my living room floor so no idea why it would be different for those seeking refuge.

And why so irate at others wanting to volunteer with refugees and asylum seeker? If you don’t
want to - fine.

How are white people treated in those countries? Do you have examples?

“In your home”

is rather difference to

“across the road” and “next door”.

Did that PP state she objects to asylum seekers or refugees being housed next door or across the road to her? Or did she just say she does not want strangers in her home?

I mean we could allow them to work while being processed but people object to that too.

It wasn’t a perilous journey from Ukraine though.

European nations threw open their doors and granted numerous safe routes (the UK included).

So there was no need to send male relatives as sacrificial lambs to find a safe way to their ultimate destination.

Because we closed all safe asylum routes for everybody except Ukranians

I would get zero benefit from helping asylum seekers and refugees. In fact it would cost me time and money. I still want to do it.

The reason Muhammed is the most popular boys name in England is because Muslims are far less original / more boring when it comes to naming their sons.

6% of the population is Muslim. That’s
it.

These people will never be net contributors. The data from Denmark couldn’t be clearer about that. They are extra bodies taking up resources. Nothing more.

That’s still a core cultural change and it’s still factually the most popular male baby name in the Uk. It is linked to Islam. Nothing I’ve said is incorrect.

I too am feeling powerless and threatened by a cultural change that I'm deeply concerned about.

As a child, I was taught that we should be caring and compassionate towards people in need and that we should do what we can to help them. I was also taught to be tolerant and open-minded towards those who were different from me. These lessons came not only from my parents, but from my school and from the other adults around me etc. While there were always people who failed to live up to those societal ideals, they were generally accepted as things to which we should all aspire. I remember reflecting with some pride on the culture that actively promoted those values when I first found myself in a society which clearly did not share them.

These days, the values that were passed on to me as a child are rapidly fading from British society. Compassion and tolerance are increasingly seen as weaknesses. I mourn the loss of the culture that I grew up with but I guess I have to accept that society moves on and changes.

I doubt you are alone on this particular horse, for a start many took in Ukrainians into their homes, did you?

We are not unkind as a nation. Women still care about safety and reports of a 12 year old who was raped will concern most. Sort out border control and you’ll see the unrest go down.

There are more ways of contributing than money. This concept of “net contributors” that’s suddenly shown up over the last couple of years is pernicious.

@itchybritchesand of course so many Muslims aren’t calling their son variations of “Muhammad” because they are “boring or unoriginal”. It is to signify their religious devotion.