5 Thoughts to Helping Refugees
By Mohammed Ahmed
If you follow the news in any form, social media, TV or even newspapers (assuming you still buy one), you will have come across the videos and images of people fleeing conflicts, persecution, and war. You will see people leaving their homes, seeking one simple thing — safety.
The refugee crisis has been well documented. Professionals who were serving their communities forced to leave their homes for fear of being killed. Doctors, engineers, bakers, teachers and parents fleeing with their children from the constant threat of war all to seek a better future. A better future not only for themselves, but for their children.
The refugees are often just seen as statistics, and the news coverage has been extensive. Extensive to the point where the public has become desensitized to the difficulties facing those who have survived the treacherous journeys to safety.
The UN Refugee Agency estimates 362,000 refugees and migrants risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea in 2016. Thousands have died by drowning in attempts to cross the sea itself.
The statistics and data are sobering, and we wanted to focus on ways to help refugees.
Here are 5 thoughts as to how:
1. What Can I Do?
People often think that they cannot make a difference as an individual. A powerful movement begins with one person, then someone else will gain the inspiration to act as an individual by hearing of your individual help. It is what is called a domino effect.
Soon, governmental organizations and institutions will start to take notice.
You can find refugees by searching in your local area, checking to see if there are any refugee support groups. Check with local charities or your local community councils.
Digital tools and social media such as Facebook have a lot of groups to join and build more awareness.
2. The Solo Helper
Once you have found a refugee group, you can offer simple but very useful services to the new arrivals in your area. Support them with dealing with authorities and government agencies by translating paperwork to them, explain some of the processes if it doesn’t make sense to them and write responses to official correspondence.
Simpler ways of helping could be something so basic that we wouldn’t even think of it as helping. Explain the local public transport, let them know of tips on how to save money on the public transport system, maybe you know a route better than what the railway company recommends on their website.
Tell them about open WiFi spots around town, help them to buy their first phone credit and show them how to add this to their phone.
The possibilities here are endless!
3. Organizing
Refugees will likely have skills that they want to use but are unable to put these to use. Spend a couple of weeks with a group organizing a sports event, a football tournament perhaps that mixes locals and refugees.
Maybe a potluck night, gather a group of people together, each person brings a dish of their own to the night. It will be like a party, except everyone brings something of their own culture along.
This will not only allow them to feel included, but build trust, knowledge, experience and more importantly welcoming them to a safer world.
4. Knowledge Exchange
The idea should be to exchange ideas, not simply telling a refugee how to integrate. They may have skills that would be beneficial to your locality. Maybe a barber came to your country from a war zone, they could perhaps cut hair for free if they are not allowed to work right now.
It will keep their skills sharp and benefit the local community too. Some are in lucrative professions such as medicine, while others have talents such as writing.
If a talent is known, encourage them to bring it out.
Who knows, you may learn something new.
5. Play-Time
Children love nothing more than playtime. If you have children of your own or know a place where children like to hang out, take a group of children along with their parents to these areas. Give the children a chance to engage with other children from the area.
It will help them to get familiar and feel at home. When children are involved, check your local laws, you may be required to go through an advanced police check, safety first!
We Speaking the Same Language?
What we want is a community approach to helping the refugees settle in. Integration is already a scary and difficult process, different languages add to the difficulty, so become a language buddy and help refugees understand your language. Even if you speak the same language they may not know local dialects or slang which would help the integration process move along much faster. Be sure to let your language buddy know that you do not replace a real course in language and try and find them a language course if needed.
Home comforts are always a great way of helping people settle in if you know of an area where the refuges language is spoken widely, take them to that part of town. They may be able to make some friends and get some things that they miss from home.
Over to You
See it’s not that difficult right?
Sharing knowledge, meeting new people and organizing events with people is a great way of making new friends, and helping someone going through a very difficult time. We share the love and we became a stronger community. Of course, simple things such as donating clothing and blankets to charities helps, but that human touch is what would make the difference to someone from simple being somewhere safe, to being someone who feels safe and welcome.
Over to you.
