Showing posts with label destitution. Show all posts
Homelessness and Hospitality... ‘At Home’ Prayer Pack Is Ready!
Just in time for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees this Sunday, 18th January 2015, Jesuit Refugee Service UK, together with Christian Life Community, has prepared the JRS reflection guide on homelessness and hospitality: ‘At Home’ Prayer Pack!
With so much material wealth in modern societies, there are still many people whose livelihoods are not secured and thus have to worry about day-to-day survival, as you can find out in the prayer pack:
“It is not known how many asylum seekers are living destitute in our cities. Being ‘destitute’ means that you are not permitted to work or claim statutory benefits and so you become reliant on friends or charities to survive. This can happen while an asylum claim is being processed or has been refused.
We know that many rely on a hostel place, often short-term, or ‘sofa-surfing’ with friends or wider family members. Some sleep on the night buses, unable to lie down to sleep, or in doorways, fearful of violence or abuse. Daytimes can be a circuit of visits to day centres for hand-outs, meetings with lawyers and often waiting in libraries or other ‘anonymous’ public spaces.” - From the Prayer Pack
Along with practical help such as volunteering and giving donations, prayer is an excellent way of showing our genuine concern and solidarity for the destitute. Louise Zanré, Director of JRS UK says:
“Many of the people we accompany at JRS derive a great deal of strength and hope from their faith. They are always pleased when I tell them of church services or community prayers I know to be taking place during which refugees are prayed for. Praying for refugees is one way in which solidarity and care can be shown. What I hope you will be able to experience from using this prayer pack, either in a group or as an individual, is being able to enter at least a little into the experience of the people we accompany and those who host them in their homes. That prayerful encounter will provide solidarity, but will help deepen your awareness of some of the problems our refugee friends might have in their lives.”
We invite you to use this prayer pack and remember our brothers and sisters who need our acts of hospitality. These acts can take place in various ways and prayer is certainly one of them!
Packs are available to download as a pdf here.
An on-line version with spoken reflections and music is available at: www.pray-as-you-go.org.
To order a pack, please contact uk@jrs.net or call 020 7488 7310.
You can see the related news on JRS UK website at http://www.jrsuk.net/news/news2/index.php
Subscribe to JRS-UK Community Blog by Email
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Volunteering at JRS, the Day-Centre
Mike Guilfoyle, talks about his experience as a JRS volunteer.
Following my departure from having completed a twenty year ' stretch ' working as a front -line Probation Officer in London in 2010. I started to look around for new and energising pathways into working outside the statutory sector and in particular fulfilling a long standing interest in working as a Volunteer. After experiencing some unexpected setbacks, I was informed by one well known charity having made what I took to be a convincing presentation, that I was unsuitable as I appeared to have not quite stepped outside the probation officer persona! Undeterred, I directed my attentions to an altogether different area of volunteering, that I had peripherally engaged with albeit in the context of casework supervision with ' foreign national' prisoners when working as a probation officer.
Having already written articles for the Catholic Social Justice Quarterly, Justice Magazine, on how my catholic faith had informed my approach to working with those who came into contact with the criminal justice system, it seemed fitting that having contacted the Mount Street Jesuit Centre and had the estimable pleasure of an informal interview with Andrea Kelly that I was directed (I have now nearly completed my novitiate!) towards the Jesuit Refugee Service. At the time, JRS was relocating from its former base in North London to Wapping and as such I awaited with keen anticipation the much delayed meeting (due to the aforementioned migration across London) with JRS Assistant Director Jonathan Parr. The convivial and engaging process of volunteer recruitment was then wonderfully complemented by the presence of a warm, welcoming and eclectic staff group.
Although I had expressed a preference for working as a volunteer visiting those caught up in the Orwellian world of detention centres, childcare considerations meant that this option has remained , at least for the present, impracticable. Since then I have willingly given up a chunk of my Thursdays to work in the vibrant and challenging weekly Day-Centre that is at the heart of the Hurtado Centre and this has offered a richly uplifting experience which has meant so much to me, anchored as it is in the foundational principles of catholic social thought, respecting the dignity of the human person, who is possessed of a god -given worth captured so well in Matthew 25: ' If you welcome the stranger, you welcome me'
I was mildly amused to note that the Jesuits also have what they define as House Probation , that is novices perform most of their basic but essential tasks , alongside their heroically lengthy but to the secular outsider, formidable period of formation. I can honestly state that the time I have so far spent at JRS has been unremittingly rewarding and has offered me a privileged opportunity to meet with, work alongside and support the refugees, many of whom offer their greetings and friendship, when they arrive at the Day-Centre and prior to leaving. I now feel a warm attachment and measured respect for those friends whose stories of displacement and rejection, have resulted in unmerited penury reliant on the charitable support of JRS and other voluntary bodies. In making oneself available often at times of great individual distress, by opening up an emotional space and presence and active compassionate listening. I have always tried at moments when my patience or attention is lacking, to recall the enduring words of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, ' If I see a person or persons suffer and the distance between us does not shrink, then my place, is not good, not enviable'.
I was mildly amused to note that the Jesuits also have what they define as House Probation , that is novices perform most of their basic but essential tasks , alongside their heroically lengthy but to the secular outsider, formidable period of formation. I can honestly state that the time I have so far spent at JRS has been unremittingly rewarding and has offered me a privileged opportunity to meet with, work alongside and support the refugees, many of whom offer their greetings and friendship, when they arrive at the Day-Centre and prior to leaving. I now feel a warm attachment and measured respect for those friends whose stories of displacement and rejection, have resulted in unmerited penury reliant on the charitable support of JRS and other voluntary bodies. In making oneself available often at times of great individual distress, by opening up an emotional space and presence and active compassionate listening. I have always tried at moments when my patience or attention is lacking, to recall the enduring words of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, ' If I see a person or persons suffer and the distance between us does not shrink, then my place, is not good, not enviable'.
Working at the JRS has helped me to see in the vulnerable stranger a mirror of myself, and a reflection of Christ that points towards an invitation to human solidarity. I have met some truly wonderful colleagues, some of whom have since moved onto other challenges and career openings. The ready wit, cheerful banter and ' salty' humour in evidence when volunteers come together has been a source of joy and delight to me, the ' passagiato' practised with consummate ease by one of the volunteers now studying for a higher degree! will no doubt be recognised by 'front of house' volunteers! An invitation to accord greater attention and support to those marginalised by political strife and persecution and broken by personal tragedy was recently reiterated in the Apostolic letter in anticipation of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees from Pope Francis which concludes with these resonant words: 'Dear migrants and refugees! Never lose the hope that you too are facing a more secure future, that on your journey you will encounter an outstretched hand, and that you can experience fraternal solidarity and the warmth of friendship! To all of you, and to those who have devoted their lives and their efforts to helping you, I give the assurance of my prayers and I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.'
Talking about money
Asylum seekers who are entitled to hard-case
support receive an Azure card of just over £35 per week which is meant to cover
all food, toiletries, clothing, travel and other daily essentials. The card is
only redeemable in certain named shops for a restricted range of items. 'Solange' from the
Democratic Republic of Congo speaks about her experience of this system and how
it makes her and others she knows feel.
Some people, they are
getting voucher, there are different voucher… They come from the government,
they give asylum seekers vouchers or pre-payment money cards to survive. Maybe there is something
you want to buy, but you can’t buy because you have voucher. Even in the
supermarket, there are something you can buy and something not e.g. you can buy
food, but not mobile phone top-up. Maybe you don’t want food, you might want
some cream from the chemist or clothes. In the supermarket there are clothes,
but you might want to go to another shop, but you can’t because you can’t use
the voucher. You can only go to the supermarket, and not all the supermarkets
are selling clothes, not the one in your area, to go to another supermarket you
have to take transport. Something you need you can’t find it.
I think they (the
refugees) are not feeling good, it is a stress, if you use a voucher everywhere
you feel better, if you can just use it. It is a different culture here, maybe
you want to buy food in the African shops or Asian shops. At the check out, many
people don’t know what (the card) is, they say wait, they call the manager, if
the manager come, they check the list. Some people feel ashamed because when
they bring the card. In the queue, they are feeling shame and stress, the other
people in the queue are waiting and everyone starts looking, what is her
situation?
Why don’t they just give
them money? Why is it different? They can’t use it. Maybe it is better to give
people something they want, or give them a voucher that they can use
everywhere. It is not easy to manage.
If they found jobs for asylum seekers it would be better. Some people would
like to work but don’t have papers to work, it is better for someone to work,
it is better. It is a good way to help government for the economy, paying tax…
not giving money it gives nothing… it is better to give work
than give money. If you (are in) a good condition, you can work, some people
they have a problem with language, but you can work, some jobs you don’t need
to speak.
Their life is not easy. I
don’t know what to say about that, (asylum seekers) get nothing, no papers, no
work, no benefit, many people they are getting stressed, getting heart attack.
And some people become thief in the shop to get food, and then they get caught
and put in prison. Some friends are helping them, some charity are helping
them, but I don’t know how so say it, it is not a good life. If you don’t have
a strong heart, you can do bad things, because you don’t have nothing, there
are too many problems. It is not easy. You had a problem back home, and you
think if you come here, you will have peace and then you have another problem!
