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

No I am not, I have been involved with the process and people for decades, how long have you been involved?

@Panterusblackish the vast majority of group based child abuse is done by white perpetrators. Perhaps we should be advocating for white British men to be locked up somewhere or.... Is it just the Pakistanis you have problems with?

I already gave you one. Reduce the numbers drastically. If your only premise is that we must have open borders at all cost, then you are not looking for any real suggestions, you just want to push a far left rhetoric. And except people swallow it with a dose of cringe words. Well that ain’t happening, by the looks of electoral polls.

Numbers are going to increase, not decrease, that is the reality, the question is, how to make it work

Funny isn't it, I live in an area that takes a lot of refugees, were a city of sanctuary, and most of our population was not born in the UK. Never once experienced these roving gangs of furrin men preying on young girls and children.

Ok so numbers will go up and we need to find a way to accept that, that seems to be the reasoning.

In which case Labour have a struggle ahead as they’ve pledged otherwise.

I'm not talking in terms of one paliament, I am talking in terms of decades

Why don't you have them in your home then? Be their host? Instead of lecturing everyone.

How about the 12 year old in Nuneaton who "got to know" 2 asylum seekers last week by being raped and strangled by them? How about her OP? Does she need to check her privilege? Extend the hand of friendship?

You people make me sick. You think you're moral but you don't give a shit about the real-world consequences of your luxury beliefs.

@GanninHyem I lived in Tower Hamlets for many years and saw exactly this on a regular basis.

Ok so over the next few decades we’re going to see many more people arrive so we should volunteer so we don’t mind that

Or we could change the system

I dont have "luxury beleifs" I dont belief I have condoned sexual assualt anywhere in any post I have ever made, Those men belong in prison, and I trust they will spend a lengthy time there.

In the year ending March 2025, approximately 77% of the total asylum applications in the UK were from males. This translates to about 64,993 adult males (aged 18 and over) and 12,428 males aged 17 and under. Overall, this means that out of the 109,343 people who applied for asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, the majority were male.

I would love to volunteer with asylum seekers and refugees but all the things I have seen are work hours. Do you have any good links?

I do, through the Refugees at Home charity, but this is not what I am specifically suggesting here- it is a great charity that does a huge amount of good, and I would strongly recommend it for anyone who has a heart to open their home to refugees. (and a spare room) This particular thread was to suggest a way that people with fear could possible get to know some individuals, and help the individuals and help their fear - Refugees at home is not really for people who are afraid

It's a real conundrum as probably at least half the world could claim legitimate reasons for emigrating. How to force the countries people are fleeing from to make life liveable and worthwhile for the general population, is the real problem. Colonialism is deemed wrong. But corporations are, in effect, the new colonialists with their giving with one hand and taking with two. Charity seems to have as many disincentives as benefits...

I recognise this. Schools in Peterborough used to (and maybe still do) release different ethnic groups at staggered times in the slight hope of minimising aggressive behaviour.

Actually the per capita stat per nationality shows a vast difference. It shows something like British men 6% likely to commit sexual violence, some other nationalities relatively similar such as France, Angola men. Then when you look at men from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia the figure jumps up to something insane like 70-80%. This has been in the news in the last week.

I’d suggest instead of judging everyone else you come and live in an area where these men are housed then see if you have the same opinion. It’s easy to tell everyone else to volunteer when you are not being directly affected, maybe you can put them up if you feel that passionate about it?

If you think multi-national corporates are anyway comparable to the blood soaked practices of colonialism you need to read up on the latter.

Here is the graph and link:

Over 100,000 foreign national convictions in just 3 years https://share.google/F6sTV9y3FGMitWz3R

Eh I moved a refugee in to my home as a renter. He needed police escort out in the end. He came to stay in my home under international protection and in the end it was me who needed protecting from him. I wasnt against refugees before and I am sure most are not like this but the damage he done to my home and tried to do to me would deter me from ever trying to help again.

The OP has stated that she lives in an area where there are many asylum seekers.

I doubt this happens. The Daily Mail would have a field day with this if it did.
How would they even achieve this. How are they going to know what ethnic groups people belong to?