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Youth and Community Project
The Youth and Community Project was set up in Liverpool to support young asylum seekers and refugees in the city through educational, social and sporting activities. It ran from June 2001 until February 2004, and worked with 300 young asylum seekers. Many of these young people had been through extremely traumatic experiences in their own countries. Some were separated from friends and family and were unsure of where to turn.
Refugee basketball game
The project set up football training sessions, a women’s group and a mother and baby group, which made a huge difference to the lives of dozens of young men and women. It also organised day trips and a weekend team-building event.
Many of the participants carried out innovative research to identify the needs of young asylum seekers, which was led by the young people themselves. Some made short films about their own experiences of seeking asylum in the city, exploring some of the barriers they came up against. The research inspired the Peer Mentoring Project, running until 2007, which supports recently-arrived young asylum seekers by linking them with local people and resettled refugees.
“The football training freed my mind from my problems. It is a way to communicate without having perfect English. It freed my mind from my problems. The project gave me confidence and I made new friends. It opened a door for me.”
“Had it not been because of the Women’s group, I could not have made many friends; I could not have learnt IT and improved my English.”
“The men’s group was fun and I also learnt lots of useful things. It was very good during the summer when I was not at college. I met lots of nice people because of it. We got to go to many interesting places, like the planetarium. Friday was the best day of the week because we get to hang out and play basketball.”
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