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During the Summer many of the friends in our community organised their own trips to the seaside, local parks and in some cases to visit family in other countries. As the original Syrian families who came to Colchester under the Vulnerable Persons Scheme become more familiar with this country, and our town, we are getting […]
06
Oct
Oct
Since Jan has been supporting play at our monthly meetings at Firstsite there has been an increase in the amount of children asking their parents to come to these meetings… Children often arrive asking ‘where is Jan?’ – she welcomes them in a way that shows where training and expertise meet real life and offers […]
05
Oct
Oct
We were thrilled and very grateful recently to accept a £600 donation from Poetry Wivenhoe, Colchester Mosaic Stanza and Suffolk Poetry Society who donated the proceeds from their anthology ‘Towards the Light, poems of reconciliation.’ The book features many truly evocative poems, as demonstrated in the following extract from ‘ Existentialism on the Dengie Peninsula’ […]
25
Aug
Aug
What do all children need in order to grow into healthy, happy members of society? Security. Stability. Love, care, the latest iPhone (even refugees just want to be cool!). But jokes aside, it’s vital for a child’s mental wellbeing to know where they belong. For three young people in our community, a group of siblings […]
24
Aug
Aug
For many of our clients, paperwork is a life raft. It’s the difference between a safe home and healthy existence, and the ongoing struggle to survive. But it can be impossible. A lack of English speaking and writing skills is an enormous barrier to filling in asylum applications, NHS forms, welfare statements, school applications, job […]
23
Aug
Aug
Around 40% of the people we help are NRPFs. This is a UK status that means ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ – basically, no benefits, no housing. But with no legal right to work – being forced instead to rely on the generosity of strangers, or live on the street. Often this is a temporary […]
22
Aug
Aug
This week we celebrate two years as a fully-fledged CIC – a Community Interest Company. Why do we not have charity status? As a non-profit CIC, we can be more flexible with our income generation drives (which we need to pay rent, office supplies and services in order to do the work we do). It […]
17
Aug
Aug
Mid-August and children start to long to return to school and parents wonder how they can keep them entertained… Then Greenleaf Forest School offer a free day of fun at Highwoods Country Park and the world becomes a lot brighter. 22 children and their parents and friends came along and we enjoyed the shade of […]
17
Aug
Aug
Do you run a caring local business? Could you help us out by placing one of our collecting tins in your reception area or next to the till? We will make every penny donated count! There are plenty of other ways in which your business could help us to improve the lives of others in […]
17
Aug
Aug
As part of our work to make Refugee Action-Colchester into a sustainable organisation, we have started what we call ‘Stakeholder Meetings’, the first meeting being held in July 2019. We plan to have three meetings a year giving all volunteers an opportunity to come together and share information on new developments. We value our volunteers […]