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Essex STAR was thrilled to participate in Refugee Action Colchester’s Pop-Up Syrian Cafe at Firstsite on Saturday 19th October. This was our first one-off volunteering project as a society and, if we may say so, it was a great success! Our volunteers had a lot of fun helping out with the cooking for the event, […]
05
Dec
Dec
We would like to continue that – so if your baby has changed size mid-pack please stick them in a bag and send us the rest. Another item we realise costs a lot for families is baby milk powder. Particularly newborn and early years, stage 1 and 2. If anyone is able to stick a […]
05
Dec
Dec
Whilst so many more Sanctuary Seekers bring their stories and pleas for help to Refugee Action Colchester there are positive things happening in our RA-C community. Befrienders continue to give tireless support to their families and volunteers contribute to many other necessary activities. The Community Meetings have gone from strength to strength and it has […]
06
Oct
Oct
The people we meet have a wide range of issues – often made all the worse by a history of unthinkably harrowing experiences endured in their own countries or while travelling to the UK. Getting to know desperate and often completely destitute people, gaining their trust, hearing their stories and ultimately helping them to get […]
06
Oct
Oct
Get ready for some delicious dishes at our next Pop-Up Cafe at Firstsite from 12.00-3.00pm on Saturday 19th October… Cooked by refugee chefs from Syria and Sudan – this is going to be a real treat for the taste-buds!
06
Oct
Oct
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 […]