Friends of Abigail Housing are running with a purpose in the Jane Tomplins 10 km Run for All on June 21st, 2009. John Hebden and Sue Smith, have been training for months and are ready to shoot out of the starting line in their Abigail running vests.
“It’s great to do something fun at the same time as helping the destitute,” says John. The run raises funds for numerous charities in the community through sponsorships and pledges. John and Sue have decided to raise money for Abigail Housing, in order to put their commitment to providing shelter to destitute asylum seekers and refugees into action.
“It isn’t much, but it shows we care,” says John. “By training a bit, and spending a few hours running on the 21st, we hope to inspire others to help the destitute too.”
You can pledge to support John and Sue online here!
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Friday, 24 April 2009
Be a Friend
Abigail Housing needs friends like you. Friends of Abigail is a new strategy initiated to create awareness of the housing challenges destitute asylum seekers and refugees face. Friends can get involved in helping those in need in number of ways.
Friends of Abigail might spread the word about the housing needs of destitute asylum seekers and refugees. They might fundraise or engage their local church. They might volunteer, or even come up with their own ideas on how to be involved.
The over 2000 destitute asylum seekers and refugees in Leeds need friendship. Having fled persecution abroad, they often end up living in extreme poverty in the UK. Sometimes they have to live on the streets, and they are often dependent on charity in order to meet their basic needs. By being a Friend of Abigail’s you can provide support to the destitute, create awareness in your community, and share your friendship.
Email aigailhousing@gmail.com to find out more information about Friends of Abigail today.
Friends of Abigail might spread the word about the housing needs of destitute asylum seekers and refugees. They might fundraise or engage their local church. They might volunteer, or even come up with their own ideas on how to be involved.
The over 2000 destitute asylum seekers and refugees in Leeds need friendship. Having fled persecution abroad, they often end up living in extreme poverty in the UK. Sometimes they have to live on the streets, and they are often dependent on charity in order to meet their basic needs. By being a Friend of Abigail’s you can provide support to the destitute, create awareness in your community, and share your friendship.
Email aigailhousing@gmail.com to find out more information about Friends of Abigail today.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Made Destitute in the UK – Deported and Killed in Sudan
Last week news broke that a Sudanese asylum seeker, who had been denied the right to remain and had been deported to Sudan, was killed in Dafur. The full tragic story can be read here
What this story illustrates is just how inhuman the UK home office decision making process is. Adam Osman Mohammed had fled Darfur, a war torn area, to seek sanctuary in the UK. Instead, as a refused asylum seeker, he was forced to live in destitution, and then returned to Sudan, where security officials murdered him in front of his wife and four year old child.
At Abigail Housing we know that all too often the home office’s decisions on who can stay and who must go can be both nonsensical and inhumane. All of the destitute asylum seekers we help cannot reasonably return to their countries of origin – so they are faced with a choice between living in destitution here in the UK or risking their lives by returning home. Adam Osaman Mohammed decided to risk returning home and lost his life as a result.
His other option would have to been to remain in the UK, unable to work and dependant on charity. This is the option many of residents of Abigail’s Destitution Project have chosen because they too fear violence or death if they return home. However, as one of Abigail’s residents says, destitution can also feel like a slow death - “I’m 21 and my life is over. What can I do? Where is the solution?” He can’t work or study. He can’t even attend English classes. He’s fallen into a deep depression.
So where is the solution? In the short term it is at places like Abigail Housing which provide for the basic human rights of asylum seekers in the UK. In the longer term it’s about a more efficient, human and realistic decision making process at the Home Office.
What this story illustrates is just how inhuman the UK home office decision making process is. Adam Osman Mohammed had fled Darfur, a war torn area, to seek sanctuary in the UK. Instead, as a refused asylum seeker, he was forced to live in destitution, and then returned to Sudan, where security officials murdered him in front of his wife and four year old child.
At Abigail Housing we know that all too often the home office’s decisions on who can stay and who must go can be both nonsensical and inhumane. All of the destitute asylum seekers we help cannot reasonably return to their countries of origin – so they are faced with a choice between living in destitution here in the UK or risking their lives by returning home. Adam Osaman Mohammed decided to risk returning home and lost his life as a result.
His other option would have to been to remain in the UK, unable to work and dependant on charity. This is the option many of residents of Abigail’s Destitution Project have chosen because they too fear violence or death if they return home. However, as one of Abigail’s residents says, destitution can also feel like a slow death - “I’m 21 and my life is over. What can I do? Where is the solution?” He can’t work or study. He can’t even attend English classes. He’s fallen into a deep depression.
So where is the solution? In the short term it is at places like Abigail Housing which provide for the basic human rights of asylum seekers in the UK. In the longer term it’s about a more efficient, human and realistic decision making process at the Home Office.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Abigail applying for social justice award
The Centre for Social Justice Awards recognise and reward effective poverty fighting groups from across the UK .If you are a charity, small voluntary group, or other project tackling poverty in your local area and helping turn lives around, then they want to hear from you. You will be people focused, tackling causes as well as symptoms, practical, entrepreneurial, driven by conviction and motivated by compassion. Most importantly, whether a small organisation on a shoe string, or a larger organisation with robust funding streams, you will be helping people out of poverty and/or reversing social breakdown. Effective poverty fighting groups with or without charitable status are welcome to apply. Applications can be posted or emailed to arrive by 5pm on the 17 March 2009. For further information contact www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk
The Situation
Whilst individuals are within the asylum process they are provided with housing and subsistence level income by the Home Office. This ends abruptly once they are given a decision. If they are granted refugee status, individuals are given a maximum of 28 days to leave their Home Office housing and find somewhere else to live. Many people approach the Local Authority at this stage. Some are able to access the mainstream homeless hostels; others simply add their name to the long housing waiting lists. Many take the opportunity to leave the area to which they were dispersed to join relatives, friends or others from their national group in other parts of the county. Often the result is a long period of homelessness.
West Yorkshire has over 3,700 Home Office asylum seeker housing units and attracts many refugees from outside the area, far exceeding the housing supply.
Our Solution
Abigail Refugee Housing Project was set up in 2007, after consultations with the Local Authority Asylum & Immigration services and voluntary sector refugee support agencies. We offer two solutions:
The provision of good quality temporary housing in specialist shared refugee hostels.
A private lettings agency with provides longer term housing options to refugees. This is run as a social enterprise and surplus income is used to fund the housing support costs in our hostels.
The project recognises that social housing, including that run by the Local Authority and Housing Associations, is in very short supply and the private sector has the potential to provide significant numbers of housing units to assist with this unmet demand.
The project provides all of its residents (hostel and lettings) with housing support in the areas of access to benefits, health care, training and employment, and help to integrate into the local community. The project aims to ensure that every new referral has access to rent deposits, bedding, and adequate facilities / equipment to cook for themselves. We also want to be able to give accurate and realistic information to new customers about their housing options in their own language. This often means dealing with misinformation which has been provided by others and finding cost effective ways of presenting information in languages other then English.
In addition we provide housing management services to landlords and residents, including being the first point of call to deal with repairs.
The 2 main indicators for our success are:
That we can at least provide temporary accommodation to every homeless refugee who is referred to us.
That refugees are able to find suitable long term housing. This includes finding the right size and type of accommodation in an area where the refugee feels safe and has sufficient local knowledge.
We opened our first four refugee beds in December 2007. We then rapidly increased to 20 beds by July 2008. We now have 14 hostel beds and 18 lettings beds. We have accommodated 46 different individuals, of which 20 have moved on to independent accommodation.
The Situation
Whilst individuals are within the asylum process they are provided with housing and subsistence level income by the Home Office. This ends abruptly once they are given a decision. If they are granted refugee status, individuals are given a maximum of 28 days to leave their Home Office housing and find somewhere else to live. Many people approach the Local Authority at this stage. Some are able to access the mainstream homeless hostels; others simply add their name to the long housing waiting lists. Many take the opportunity to leave the area to which they were dispersed to join relatives, friends or others from their national group in other parts of the county. Often the result is a long period of homelessness.
West Yorkshire has over 3,700 Home Office asylum seeker housing units and attracts many refugees from outside the area, far exceeding the housing supply.
Our Solution
Abigail Refugee Housing Project was set up in 2007, after consultations with the Local Authority Asylum & Immigration services and voluntary sector refugee support agencies. We offer two solutions:
The provision of good quality temporary housing in specialist shared refugee hostels.
A private lettings agency with provides longer term housing options to refugees. This is run as a social enterprise and surplus income is used to fund the housing support costs in our hostels.
The project recognises that social housing, including that run by the Local Authority and Housing Associations, is in very short supply and the private sector has the potential to provide significant numbers of housing units to assist with this unmet demand.
The project provides all of its residents (hostel and lettings) with housing support in the areas of access to benefits, health care, training and employment, and help to integrate into the local community. The project aims to ensure that every new referral has access to rent deposits, bedding, and adequate facilities / equipment to cook for themselves. We also want to be able to give accurate and realistic information to new customers about their housing options in their own language. This often means dealing with misinformation which has been provided by others and finding cost effective ways of presenting information in languages other then English.
In addition we provide housing management services to landlords and residents, including being the first point of call to deal with repairs.
The 2 main indicators for our success are:
That we can at least provide temporary accommodation to every homeless refugee who is referred to us.
That refugees are able to find suitable long term housing. This includes finding the right size and type of accommodation in an area where the refugee feels safe and has sufficient local knowledge.
We opened our first four refugee beds in December 2007. We then rapidly increased to 20 beds by July 2008. We now have 14 hostel beds and 18 lettings beds. We have accommodated 46 different individuals, of which 20 have moved on to independent accommodation.
Monday, 2 March 2009
Are you giving something up for Lent this year?
Chocolate... coffee... wine? Giving up small luxuries can be suprisingly difficult. Now imagine what it must be like to give up your home, your family, your country. Most asylum seekers and refugees are forced to give up everything they hold dear, while fleeing to safety.
A friend of mine decided to take the theme of sacrifice at Lent one step further by trying to not only give up a luxury, but provide for someone elses need. Normally she buys a capaccino everyday. She decided she would not only forfit this favorite morning treat, but also donate the money she saved (£1.40 each) to Abigail Housing. So by the end of lent she’ll have donated £56! Now her sacrifice will really help someone who has lost everything to poverty, war and insecurity.
A friend of mine decided to take the theme of sacrifice at Lent one step further by trying to not only give up a luxury, but provide for someone elses need. Normally she buys a capaccino everyday. She decided she would not only forfit this favorite morning treat, but also donate the money she saved (£1.40 each) to Abigail Housing. So by the end of lent she’ll have donated £56! Now her sacrifice will really help someone who has lost everything to poverty, war and insecurity.
Friday, 13 February 2009
Who lives in Abigail Housing?
The children, women and men that live in Abigail housing have no where else to go. If Abigail didn’t provide them with a home they would be on the streets. For example, at one Abigail House, two women from Eretria live together.
In Eretria they were imprisoned for belonging to a Pentecostal church. They were given a choice, sign this document saying you don’t believe in the church anymore or stay in jail. They signed, and were released, but continued to be harassed by the police. Fearing for their security, and wishing to practices their faith, which they hadn’t given up in their hearts, they fled to Sudan.
The journey from Sudan to the UK is difficult and dangerous, but they made it. Once in the UK, they waited many months for their asylum claim to be processed. They could not work, were scared to go out, and could not communicate with their families in Eretria, as they were scared that if the government knew were they where, they would punish their relatives. Eventually, the happy news arrived that they had been granted the right to remain in the UK.
However, their challenges didn’t end there. They had to leave the housing the UK Home Office provided them, and were still on the wait list for social housing. Both women were terrified of living on the streets. They knew what happened to young refugee women like themselves. Working the sex trade wasn’t an option for either of them, but they knew they might not have a choice if they did not have shelter.
Luckily, they were put in touch with Abigail Housing, who found them a safe furnished apartment in Leeds. The two women live together, study English and go to church. They are waiting to move up the social housing list so that they can move on, and then other refugees will take over their Abigail apartment. Slowly but surely they are rebuilding their lives in safety and security.
In Eretria they were imprisoned for belonging to a Pentecostal church. They were given a choice, sign this document saying you don’t believe in the church anymore or stay in jail. They signed, and were released, but continued to be harassed by the police. Fearing for their security, and wishing to practices their faith, which they hadn’t given up in their hearts, they fled to Sudan.
The journey from Sudan to the UK is difficult and dangerous, but they made it. Once in the UK, they waited many months for their asylum claim to be processed. They could not work, were scared to go out, and could not communicate with their families in Eretria, as they were scared that if the government knew were they where, they would punish their relatives. Eventually, the happy news arrived that they had been granted the right to remain in the UK.
However, their challenges didn’t end there. They had to leave the housing the UK Home Office provided them, and were still on the wait list for social housing. Both women were terrified of living on the streets. They knew what happened to young refugee women like themselves. Working the sex trade wasn’t an option for either of them, but they knew they might not have a choice if they did not have shelter.
Luckily, they were put in touch with Abigail Housing, who found them a safe furnished apartment in Leeds. The two women live together, study English and go to church. They are waiting to move up the social housing list so that they can move on, and then other refugees will take over their Abigail apartment. Slowly but surely they are rebuilding their lives in safety and security.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Welcome to Abigail's Blogg
Greetings! For those of you who don’t know Abigail – let me introduce you to West Yorkshire’s most dynamic charity. Abigail Housing is a one of a kind charity that provides housing to destitute refugees and asylum seekers in Bradford and Leeds. We run two projects: the Destitution Project and the Refugee Project. We also help asylum seekers connect with other services, and provide friendship and encouragement. We are pretty new (just two years old), but we are keen to grow in order to help more destitute asylum seekers and refugees.
This blog will help us keep you in the loop about issues facing asylum seekers, developments at Abigail Housing and information about what you can do to help. Any questions just email us at abigailhousing@gmail.com.
God Bless!
This blog will help us keep you in the loop about issues facing asylum seekers, developments at Abigail Housing and information about what you can do to help. Any questions just email us at abigailhousing@gmail.com.
God Bless!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)