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Brits stand shoulder to shoulder with refugees

Mon 14 July 2008

REFUGEES and British people are standing shoulder to shoulder across the UK thanks to an innovative project which today launched its new website.

The Refugee Awareness Project (RAP) website (www.raproject.org.uk) will act as an inspirational 'toolkit' for the many people nationwide who support asylum seekers and refugees in their communities and want to make their voices heard.

The website launch coincides with a campaign that will culminate in a House of Commons exhibition aimed at MPs, featuring thousands of personal messages of welcome to refugees from ordinary people.

The interactive website is the offspring of a three-year project operated by national charity Refugee Action in Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol, which has reached out to hundreds of community groups ranging from schools and businesses to sports clubs and tenants’ associations.

As well as refugees, British people from all walks of life have volunteered with the project, from postmen and teachers to retired business people. They have been visiting local groups telling others the facts about asylum and refugee volunteers have told their own stories of fleeing persecution and war.

John Hepworth, a semi-retired engineer, has been volunteering for the Nottingham project for three years. He said: "I had a distant interest in refugees, in the sense of people who are falling off the bottom end of society. I knew that anti-asylum sentiment certainly didn't speak for me.

"Being involved in RAP awareness-raising talks has helped me understand the difficulties faced by asylum seekers and the obstacles in the system.

“Volunteering alongside refugees has been an extremely rewarding experience. My wife also volunteers, and many of our friends who might not have known a lot about asylum have an increased awareness after meeting some of the refugees and asylum seekers we have worked with.”

The new site gives people everything they need to become community ambassadors for refugees. A 'What can I do’ section provides everyday tips on how they can offer practical help - such as befriending a refugee - while pocket booklets put the facts at their fingertips.

RAP Communications Specialist Esme Peach said: “The anti-asylum lobby are sometimes heard over other voices, simply because they shout the loudest. But we know that there are many thousands of people up and down the country who feel differently, are hungry for information and want to know how they can make a difference. Our website will empower those people to act.”

Since RAP's launch it has supported the Actors for Human Rights network, which has toured the UK with productions such as Asylum Monologues and most recently, Asylum Dialogues, which tells the real-life stories of ordinary people who have befriended people seeking asylum in their communities.

Esme Peach said: "Our project's success has been phenomenal but we want to reach more people across the UK. Perhaps by tapping into their goodwill, we can begin to turn the tide and demonstrate to politicians that there is a popular base of support for more positive and enlightened asylum policies.”

To see the new website and find out how your organisation can receive a refugee awareness session go to www.raproject.org.uk.

ENDS

For more information, to organise an interview or photographs, please contact Julia Ravenscroft, press officer at Refugee Action, on 0161 233 1956 or Stephen Rylance on 020 7654 7707.

NOTES:

Refugee Action’s Refugee Awareness Project (RAP) is based in Nottingham, Bristol and Liverpool, RAP trains teams of refugee and British volunteers to visit local groups, give information on the asylum system and explain what a refugee’s life is like. The project has worked with schools, community groups, statutory services and faith groups.
Refugee Action is an independent, national charity working to enable refugees to build new lives in the UK. We provide practical advice and assistance for newly arrived asylum seekers and support their settlement through community development work. As one of the country’s leading agencies in the field, Refugee Action has 26 years’ experience in pioneering innovative work in partnership with refugees and advised more than 40,000 asylum seekers and refugees last year.