A big Swahili welcome for the Big Society
August 11th, 2010 by Lisa Glass Posted in Asylum-seekers, Gender, Refugees, Voluntary work
Therese at an international GenderWorks conference with Oxfam in Brussels earlier this year
As David Cameron’s idea for the Big Society meets more discussion we look to see the public sector gaps already filled by community groups. I went to visit one such group, an Oxfam Scotland partner organisation, Karibu.
Karibu, meaning ‘welcome’ in Swahili, started as a refugee women’s centre for African women and other migrants, run by African women in 2004 in Glasgow. Starting off as simply a community group, it is now registered as an official charity with centrally located offices which welcomes women as far out as Largs and Motherwell. Charlotte, the Development Officer and Therese, a volunteer, are just two of the very motivated women involved with Karibu.
With ‘women together facilitating integration’ as their slogan, they want to help women be independent, to help them to integrate and adjust to the changes in language, culture, and even cooking they have experienced in their migration to Scotland. They run Basic English classes teaching daily use language to ensure women are able to do simple things such as their shopping themselves, and provide assistance with official phone calls and form-filling. In collaboration with ‘The Hidden Gardens’ they run a gardening and cooking class where they cook the vegetables they have grown in recipes they’ve developed, with a vision of one day serving this in their very own African café run by their members. This also would be an outlet to sell products from their sewing group, including bags and aprons.
They are able to reach those who need support most by tackling the issues that often make access to these kinds of services more difficult. For example, Karibu pays the expenses for the women who come to any of their sessions, and are in the process of organising a crèche in their offices so women are not deterred by a lack of childcare, a dilemma affecting families all over the UK not just Karibu members. Of the women they have contact with, Charlotte and Therese tell us about three quarters do not have a husband with them, but that most have children, exacerbating the difficulties associated with Scotland’s lack of affordable childcare.
The most serious and debilitating issue said to face women contacting Karibu is sorting out their immigration status. This complicated process can take years and can make an individual feel like a criminal, and many of Karibu’s members live every day in fear of deportation. Karibu helps to provide support during this time, signposting to volunteering opportunities allowing an opportunity to show commitment and a desire and ability to work that may help their application and just genuinely being there for these individuals, providing a welcome distraction for even a few hours a week.
What would the outlook be like for the thousands of refugees in Glasgow without the support and signposting services Karibu offers, filling the void left by the public sector in assistance to migrants to the UK? Luckily, we are left to wonder.
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