JRS-UK Community Blog

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Louise Zanré, Director of JRS UK, shares her vision for a better world and invites us to join advocacy efforts alongside refugees to make the case for their dignity
Advocacy is one of the three parts of the JRS mission. We often spend a lot more time on accompaniment and service - I suspect because many of us attracted to working for JRS are what I think of as being at heart "people persons". We derive energy and inspiration from being present both with and two the people we accompany. We build relationships and endeavour to offer and to receive hope, dignity and justice through those relationships. And we often do not make enough of the advocacy opportunities we have had and the fact that peoples' lives are changed as a result.

Being a "people person" myself I get a great deal of pleasure from meeting new people and having the opportunity of explaining to them a little about the reality of the lives of the people we accompany, whether those left destitute by the asylum system in the UK or those who have been detained, and the work of JRS. As a person of faith and conviction I base much of that message I share on the values underpinning the mission of JRS. I dream of a new world of dignity and justice, where everyone is treated with equality and compassion. I hope that, when I speak to groups, or at events; when I have meetings with civil servants, politicians; when I attend network meetings of partner organisations; when I write articles, that I am able to speak with truth, compassion and with passion and that the people I address or meet with are better equipped to conceive of and to want to work towards that new world.

It is a big ask - of myself and of those listening - and I am sure that I am not always as effective as I might be. It is also a big ask as we are up against so much. There are too many myths about refugees and asylum seekers. The world is far from perfect and sometimes the issues we are confronted with can seem to be insurmountable. It is difficult to know what response to make to the fact that so many people are being forced to risk dangerous journeys to get to Europe; to the fears that so many people have over competition for resources, jobs, housing or health care provision.

However it is especially at this time when things can seem to be so dark and depressing that it is of particular importance that we do try our best to counter a prevailing message of blame, of not being able to be generous, of not being able to participate together in society.

A new immigration bill was announced recently in the Queen's speech. Unsurprisingly, the highlights make for pretty depressing reading - landlords having to check immigration status of prospective tenants to determine if they can legally rent housing to them, appeal rights only being permissible in immigration cases after deportation, making it more difficult for immigrants to get bank accounts, making money earned from illegal working the proceeds of criminal activity and therefore able to be confiscated, to name a very few. On top of existing restrictions they make the UK a very unwelcoming place indeed.

In the face of this we all need to be diligent advocates. We will be sharing with you campaigns against particular measures - whether to stop indefinite detention; to try and convince our government to resettle more refugees; or to lobby MPs about the immigration bill. But we will also be asking you to listen to the experiences of our refugee friends, their hopes and dreams. And we will be asking you to work with us to dream a new world, to try to be more welcoming ourselves in everything we do or say, to challenge injustice and to pray and reflect. Without our refugee friends and without you, nothing I nor JRS can do will substantially change things.

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What can we do together to improve the lives of asylum seekers here in the UK? JRS UK staff and advocacy volunteers share what advocacy means to them.

Sr Margaret Baxter SSMN, Detention Outreach Co-ordinator, helped two detainees give evidence to the UK parliamentary inquiry on detention via a video link, co-wrote JRS UK’s submission to the inquiry and herself also spoke at the launch of the report.

"For me, being involved with advocacy means to create an opportunity for the detainees I work with to self-advocate, then to help them prepare. For example, for the detention inquiry, we all wanted to be clear on what we wanted to say, so that it was a balance of their experience. On the moment of the hearing, I sat with them and then took each one into the room and then left, to allow them to speak for themselves. When they came out of the interview, I saw a liberated delight in these young men who had been empowered and now able to speak for themselves. That their stories were taken with credibility was in contrast to their experience of coming into country and making their asylum application against disbelief. There is nothing like the sincerity of the person themselves advocating on their own behalf. And with the detainees, there is a sense of solidarity with one another, even in the midst of their vulnerability."

Souleyman Sow, refugee poet and anti-detention campaigner, used to attend JRS UK’s Day Centre and now often speaks at events to explain the negative impacts of detention on the lives of vulnerable detainees, most recently at a school sixth-form education day.

"To be honest, before getting involved in campaigning, I did not know where I was, I had nowhere to start. It lifts me up and puts me on my feet and without it I would be somebody else. My main message is detention. It has an impact, it keep people in limbo. So to decision makers, I say that we have to put detention on trail, it is a waste of tax payers’ money. And let’s have a time limit on detention and we will see some of the problems for detainees ended. It is wonderful to speak out, I have been a tour guide, I have spoken at the parliamentary inquiry. Advocacy is not about money, it is not about food - you have to get involved in the community, after your release what have you contributed to the community? When I see my colleagues, I tell them come and get involved. So just involve yourself!"

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Rome, 20 June 2015 – Refugees do not choose to become refugees. They become refugees out of compulsion. They experience separation from loved ones, starvation, discrimination, fear, trauma, indefinite incarceration and worst of all, the demonization of their human dignity. They hope not only for survival, but for a peaceful and decent life, free from persecution and discrimination. Even when they eventually do make it to a safe refuge, it is very hard for them to restore their lives by themselves. During this time, their hope for education and equal opportunity often fades away.

My name is Antony Mukui*; I'm 28 years old and I come from Kenya. My story, though tragic, is sadly not unique.

I should say that compared to the millions of refugees across the world, my journey has been through God's grace a fairly easy one.

It was the night of 5 November 2013, when my family and I were attacked in our home by a gang of about 12 men armed with crude weapons: machetes, axes, knifes, etc. I was outside of our house talking to my cousin Joseph inquiring why the electricity shut off. As we talked, this gang confronted us. They took me hostage and ordered my cousin to go back to sleep. Little did I know that was the last time I would see him alive.

I was led to the house and the ordeal began. All the while, they were looking for my mother, who was then an employee in one of Kenya's security services. This ordeal lasted just about an hour, and at the end of it all I was injured terribly. My young sister, 12 at the time, had gone through an attempted rape; my 92 year old grandmother had been harassed and traumatized; and my friend and colleague Peter was seriously injured and had to spend two months in the hospital undergoing reconstructive surgery on his mouth.

As you can all imagine after such a traumatic event, we lived our lives in fear, sleeping in shifts at night. While the local police guarded our compound, we stood watch too. The investigations were going nowhere; and after four months of this, we made the decision as a family to leave the country that we had called home for all our lives into an uncertain future.

A new home. We arrived in Italy on 21 January 2014. Based on the recommendation of by the Kenyan Superior of the Jesuits and with permission of the Superior General of the Jesuits, Franciscan Cappuchin priests took us in their San Lorenzo di Brandisi college, where they usually house foreign students who are studying in Rome. We have been living with them ever since.

They have helped us not only by offering us a roof over our heads but also a place to heal our inner wounds by providing us with spiritual counseling and allowing us to be part of their family. We eat meals together, have discussions, play football and watch games together from time to time.

This transition has not been easy on my family, leaving everything behind: a good house, good jobs, a car, all our friends and family. The life of a refugee is not an easy one; there are many challenges that one has to go through including the lack of employment, housing and proper documentation.

Rebuilding through faith. Worse for me is the feeling of not belonging, of not being human. As a refugee, every day you cling on to the hope that the next day will be better than yesterday. This hope and our faith in God is what have kept our family together over the past year, despite all the difficult times that we have faced. It is the faith that as long as we have our lives, we can always rebuild and achieve greater things.

Every day, I am inspired by the stories of my fellow refugees that I meet from all over the world. Many of them are young men and women like myself who have undergone so much pain and suffering in their young lives, but who all have two things in common – hope and determination to make something of their lives despite all the challenges they face.

Ultimately, I must say the story of a refugee is a story of great courage. It is a story of a people who refuse to give up when everything around them seems to crumble, who chose to hope when it would be so easy to give up.

I challenge all of you to look at refugees as your fellow brothers and sisters, as human beings.

I believe that we can all do our part to help those who are suffering. As Pope Francis reminds us, we must all be able first to see, and then help others to see that migrants do not represent a problem to be solved. They are brothers and sisters who need help and should therefore be welcomed and loved.

Each one of us must answer the Holy Father's call not only by helping to provide housing, food, employment and education, but more importantly to tackle the root causes that cause people to flee and find durable solutions to those problems.

Opposing the war in Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr., said "a time comes when silence is betrayal." That time I believe has come for us as far as the refugee crisis is concerned. The time has come for all of us to not only speak up, but to act. This I believe is our duty not only as Christians but as human beings, and in doing so, we will love our fellow man and "Push forward, not back."

*Antony currently volunteers at the Jesuit Refugee Service International Office

Bianca Venkata is a volunteer member of the JRS UK detention-outreach team and visits detainees at an immigration removal centre in the UK.
If you would like to join as a volunteer, come and visit JRS UK Volunteering.

Refugees 

by Patrick Purnell SJ

JRS Volunteer Marguerite recounts her enjoyment of attending a special event for migrants this month.

‘The Mass for Migrants has been celebrated every May bank holiday since 2006, when it was first introduced by the then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor; at the suggestion of London Citizens. The Cardinal’s call at that Mass is for a more just treatment of migrants rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. Each year since then the event has reminded London of the invaluable contribution of so many migrants to the city’s society and economy. It offers a profound witness to the Church’s insistence that the dignity of the human person is God-given and never withdrawn and reminds us of the deep resonance with refugee and asylum seekers.’ (Extract from introduction in Mass booklet)

It was my privilege to be able to be there yesterday at a packed Westminster Cathedral. Before the Mass commenced the colourful and joyful procession of different migrant communities with their banners, music and dressed in their national clothes was indeed an Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia celebration. Bishop Patrick Lynch, one of the auxiliary bishops of Southwark, concelebrated with approximately fifty priests from Westminster, Southwark and Brentwood dioceses. It was noticeable that almost a third of the priests were from outside Europe. A blessing for our Church here in England and Wales today. VIPs included mayors/mayoresses from different boroughs of London, MPs, ambassadors of various countries and representatives from other faiths and Christian denominations. But THE VIPs were the migrants, each and everyone present from all over the world not only in this great city of London but in UK. Bidding prayers were in Polish, Mandarin, Swahili, French, Portuguese, Tagalog and English, a wee taste of the languages spoken in London churches. When the Our Father was prayed each according to their own native tongue, it did remind me of Pentecost! Poignantly, given recent events in his country, the Communion anthem was performed by a Ukranian soloist.

It would not do justice to Patrick Lynch’s profound homily to try to share what he said and I wish I had a copy to write it here. He quoted strongly from Evangelii Gaudium. He highlighted two main areas: Human Trafficking and Children of undocumented migrant workers, ‘no way in and no way out’ in their plight. Hopefully those present who have the clout to do something will not turn a deaf ear. As a volunteer at L’Arche and Jesuit Refugee Services, I have no clout, but that does not exempt me from not turning a deaf ear to God’s message for me. I found myself inspired, challenged, disturbed and consoled, all at the same time as I left the Cathedral and made my way to Colnbrook detention center for my weekly visit there.

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We begin accompanying from the experience of being accompanied. JRS helped me to cross the foreign language obstacle when I came to the UK. Moreover, my crossing this barrier has given me a better understanding of this experience for refugees. I took the place, several times, in the feelings that two young Moroccan guests had to feel in my own Bilbao community back in Spain.