Comfort and Joy: Small gesture of £5 voucher will mean 'more than you can imagine' for city asylum seekers at Christmas
SURVIVING on just £5.66 a day, asylum seekers will gratefully receive vouchers donated by kindhearted members of the community this Christmas.
Friends Without Borders is a charity supporting asylum seekers, immigrants and refugees in Portsmouth who are facing hardship and are unable to work, drive or rent a property until an asylum claim is approved.
Some of them cannot leave the UK because they either have no papers or their own countries won’t take them.
People making a fresh asylum application are cut off from government support, so Friends Without Borders gives £20 a week to them, which has increased to £25 during the pandemic.
Bryony Whitmarsh, who has taken over as co-chairman with Veronica Dunne, said: ‘We have just over 20 such people on our books costing us over £500 a week. Other asylum seekers sometimes need help too so altogether we usually give around £800 or £900 a week.’
Other services provided by the charity include befriending volunteers reaching out to people in need, a school uniform grant scheme and a drop-in at All Saints Church in Commercial Road on a Monday and Thursday which provides refreshments and essential support services.
The popular drop-in service, run in collaboration with the British Red Cross, unfortunately has had to close during the pandemic.
A young asylum seeker from Syria, who is being made anonymous, has been going to the drop-in for six years.
He has been in the UK for more than six years. His claim for asylum failed, he cannot return to Syria and he gets no benefits or accommodation.
The young man, who meets with charity befriender Lia Deyal, said: ‘When the drop-in closed in March I had nothing. Michael Woolley [former Friends chairman] organised for my destitution money to be paid into a Friends account and for Lia to befriend me.
‘Lockdown has been very bad for me, I just stay home. The only contact I have is Lia from Friends without Borders.
‘She phones me every Monday and asks “how are you,how is life, how is everything.” We have met a few times and been for a walk and a coffee. She will talk about her family and I can talk about how I am feeling.
‘I miss the drop-in, I used to go there every week and sometimes twice a week. When I have vouchers I can buy food.’
The charity is one of the beneficiaries of this year’s Comfort and Joy campaign, backed by The News, which will see supermarket gift vouchers given out to 10 good causes in the city.
Bryony said: ‘The campaign is particularly special this year, focusing on the things that unite us. We won't have the opportunity to bring our clients and volunteers together to celebrate Christmas in person, and as a charity we can't afford to give out presents to people, so being able to pass on a voucher to each person to give them that choice at Christmas means more than you might imagine.
READ NEXT: Christmas generosity will boost spirits of people living in charity hostels after becoming homeless
‘Gifting a £5 voucher might seem like a small gesture, but if you are seeking refuge in our city after having to flee your own country and times are hard, then simply knowing that someone is thinking of you at Christmas time can really bring both comfort and joy.’