Our partnership with Swansea Council for Voluntary Service (SCVS) on this project continues very successfully. Volunteer Mentors are recruited and trained to help welcome people seeking sanctuary to Swansea (primarily newly-arrived asylum seekers). Mentors might, for example, explain bus routes, show cheap places to shop, give information on health and social care services, or help the newcomers meet other people and find English classes, other training, and volunteering opportunities and activities they would like to do such as football, singing, arts, dance, etc. The idea is to help people to ‘find their feet’ and become more integrated into their new community.

During the year Hannah Sabatia has taken over from Stepheni Kays as Development Officer for the project. We thank Stepheni for the great work she did in setting up and running the project and wish her well in her new role with Public Health Wales. Hannah has built on Stepheni’s work; during 2019 the project assisted over 200 new asylum seekers and now has 33 volunteer mentors, which include 4 volunteer interpreters. A new monthly drop-in has been started in Morriston targeting those living in Morriston, Clase, and Llansamlet. “Better Welcome” is now a fully integrated part of SCVS’s Involve Project alongside other voluntary befriending and independent visiting schemes. There has been an increase in demand for orientation sessions in schools where the project meets newly arrived parents in their children’s schools. This has been a successful way schools can get involved in supporting parents to integrate in the local communities. There is a lot of potential in this area especially for schools reaching out to be a ‘school of sanctuary’

For more details see >>

https://swansea.cityofsanctuary.org/volunteer-with-us or https://www.scvs.org.uk/a-better-welcome-to-swansea .

If you know someone seeking sanctuary who would benefit from the project’s support, or you would like to volunteer as a mentor or interpreter, please contact Involve on 01792 457299 / [email protected] or Hannah on 07496 172896.