We are delighted to introduce our brand new Management Committee officers for 2016-2017.
L-R: Sohail Ali, Kathryn Williams, Amber Esther, Alan Thomas.
Our Co-Chairs are: Amber Esther and Alan Thomas, our Secretary is Kathryn Williams and our Treasurer is Sohail Ali.
Amber Esther is a mother of two and originally comes from Pakistan. She arrived in Britain in 2012 and in January 2013 came to live in Swansea. She immediately felt welcomed by the people who were warm and friendly to her. Once her children were settled in school she began to feel lonely at home and felt that she had to do something useful with her time.
She found An African Community Centre and began to volunteer first as a sewing teacher and then working with women in livelihood project. Following this she volunteered for Cancer research UK and City of Sanctuary Swansea. she decided to become a board member of Swansea City of Sanctuary and now she has been elected to the position of co- chair person.
Amber says: “I would like to see people who are seeking Asylum welcomed and settled here in Swansea. This city will benefit from the experiences and diverse cultures of asylum seekers and I’ve hope that in the future you’ll enrich the community through your ideas, businesses and collaboration with local people.”
Alan Thomas is Co-founder of Swansea City of Sanctuary and has recently stood down from his role as Chair of Trustees of the national City of Sanctuary charity. He is a Quaker and a retired academic, having been Professor of International Development at the Centre for Development Studies, Swansea University and previously a co-founder of the Development Policy and Practice group and the Global Programme in Development Management at The Open University.
Kathryn Williams has a background in the UK housing sector. Upon her retirement Kathryn was able to become more involved with the community in her home city. She was so impressed with the achievements of Swansea City of Sanctuary that she offered to join the Management Committee three years ago. She is pleased to be able to make use my skills as Secretary. Together with the workers at the Wales Cities of Sanctuary Project and our many pledged supporters, (over 150 organisations and numerous volunteers) she hopes that we are able to continue to encourage Swansea to provide a positive welcome to newcomers and that we continue to make a difference to those in our City who are among the most disadvantaged.
Sohail Ali is a volunteer with the Wales Cities of Sanctuary Project, where he is a Mentor and Sanctuary Speaker. Sohail completed his finance degree in Pakistan and his career spans over working with financial sector and banks. As part of an asylum seeking family he is acutely aware of the struggles and compromises people seeking sanctuary often have to make. Sohail says that: “in this difficult period communities and people of Swansea have helped us a lot.So I just want to give something back to it in our limited capacity. Hopefully my services will help Swansea, City of Sanctuary in the best possible way.”
We feel that under this guidance, Swansea City of Sanctuary will continue to thrive.
