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Mentoring project helps young refugees build new lives in Liverpool

22 July 2004

A vital project helping young isolated asylum seekers and refugees settle into life in Liverpool will be launched on Thursday July 29th.

The Peer Mentoring Project, run by the national charity Refugee Action, will link young asylum seekers up with British people and established refugees who will help them access education, employment and local services for young people.

The project stems from Refugee Action’s Youth and Community Project, which worked with 300 young asylum seekers in Liverpool over three years through individual, group and activity-based schemes.

Thursday’s launch, at Blackburn House Women’s Technology and Education Centre, will include presentations from young refugees Nicolette Muzazi and Victor Twagirumwami, who took part in the Youth and Community Project and are now project workers on the mentoring scheme.

Julie Kashirahamwe, manager of the Peer Mentoring Project, said: “Young asylum seekers are one of the most vulnerable groups in Britain today, with many having lived through trauma and persecution in their home countries before fleeing here. Many feel isolated. They want to meet and make friends with British people but don’t know where to begin.

“We know from our Youth Project research that young asylum seekers also want to succeed in the UK with regard to education and employment but are not accessing services designed to support them. The Peer Mentoring Project offers an opportunity for these vulnerable young people to realise their potential through a supportive relationship. Mentors will also make new friends, learn about different cultures and develop their personal and project management skills.”

The peer mentoring project, which is financed through the Big Lottery Fund, aims to set up 90 mentor/ mentee relationships over three years between young people aged between 18 and 25, starting with 20 in the first year.

Refugee Action will work with young people and other youth service providers in Liverpool to match newly arrived asylum seekers with suitable mentors, and each relationship will be formally supported for three months at a time.

Mentors will receive support and training and will be given telephone support as well as formal supervision sessions.

The launch, at Blackburn House Women’s Technology and Education Centre, Blackburn Place off Hope Street, Liverpool, will begin at 12pm, and will include a buffet lunch. To arrange interviews and photographs please contact Julia Ravenscroft, press officer for Refugee Action, on 0161 233 1956 or e-mail juliar@refugee-action.co.uk.

Notes to editors:

Donations to the project have also been received from The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust.

About Refugee Action

Refugee Action is an independent, national charity working to enable refugees to build new lives in the UK. We provide practical advice and assistance for newly arrived asylum seekers and long-term commitment to their settlement through community development work, and received 30,000 visits from asylum seekers last year. As one of the country’s leading agencies in the field, Refugee Action has 22 years’ experience in pioneering innovative work in partnership with refugees.