Asylum seekers volunteer with Canal and River Trust, Newbury
Asylum seekers staying in West Berkshire have been volunteering with the Canal and River Trust (CRT) in Newbury.
Volunteer Karen Reeves, who also works with West Berkshire Action for Refugees, was said to have suggested the idea as the asylum seekers still cannot work due their current immigration status and lack of progress with their paperwork.
The group, of mixed descent from Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan and Iran among other countries, have been staying at the Regency Park Hotel since January.
In a Thatcham Town Council meeting, held earlier this year, Ms Reeves said that the arrivals, some of whom were qualified doctors and teachers, were offering to clean the hotel for free.
Until formally registered with the Home Office it is said that they have “no access to funds whatsoever”.
For the past four months, a handful of them have been volunteering with the Canal and River Trust.
On Monday (October 31) they helped the existing CRT volunteers complete jobs including painting the locks, sanding down the footbridge and reinstating an eroded riverbank, explained volunteer team leader Roger Jones.
Mr Jones, who worked for just under a year at the Basingstoke canal before coming to Newbury about a year ago, said that this is the first CRT group to have volunteer asylum seekers, with the initiative being taken on board by their managing director who is looking to roll it out in Gloucester and potentially other areas of the country.
He said: “The asylum seekers have integrated really well, they are extremely keen and they are asking to go out, rather than once a month, but more often.”
Volunteer team leader Matt Hudson, who has worked with the trust for nearly two years, echoed this and said: “It is one of the best things to see how well asylum seekers from far away countries and cultures are able to work so well together with our team.
“You can see that it really means the world to them, they have gone back to their hotels with such smiles on their faces.
“It makes them feel like they are part of a community; integrating with our team rather than stuck in the hotel with nothing to do.”
Mr Hudson said the volunteering also helps the asylum seekers with their English, something they have already been learning both at the hotel and Reading College.
He said: “It is noticeable in this short time they’ve already, though slightly broken, are being able to hold a conversation.
“We had reservations with how would we cope with it and the language [barrier] but they have instilled in us that we are all human beings and we all need to look after each other.
“I think to some extent there’s such negative press, it can often cover your perception but when you meet people in the flesh, you realise how much we have got in common rather than how different we are.”
