Refugees and asylum seekers
We are all of us immigrants to Middlesbrough. Before 1840 there was a farm and a few cottages. Every Middlesbrough family has come from outside the area. Nowadays Teesside is very hospitable to refugees and asylum seekers. Many churches and mosques have welcomed them into their fellowship.
The Council of Faiths called a meeting on Thursday July 13th involving all the groups in the town who work with asylum seekers and refugees.
Some groups like the North of England Refugee Service are well known. Others like the All Nations Church at Marton are not. These groups had never come together in this way before, and some did not know of several of the other groups working in this way.
We are going to begin to look at how best we can help those people who are currently trying to exist (without any help from the government) on £5 a week! A number of such people have settled well into the community, and make a very valuable contribution to the life of our town.
There will be more news about this on this website in the near future. Some of the ways in which government policies, and the actions of the Immigration Service, affect the lives of people who have become our friends, make some of us ashamed of the things done in our name.
We aim to publicise the good stories to tell about asylum seekers and refugees in Middlesbrough, and also the stories of bad practice, of oppressive and bullying behaviour towards them, neglect, indifference, and ignorance.
All our faiths emphasise our duty of care to the stranger, the visitor, the person in need. We shall see how best we can help with money, accommodation, opportunities for work (voluntary or paid), and publicity. We aim to be a “hospitable” community.