Using their loaf to make a difference

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BY CAITLIN OTWAY

If you’ve been to Camberwell Green Market on a Saturday, chances are you’ve noticed a stall laden with fresh sourdough loaves and pastries. It’s run by an affable teenager called Mohammad Golkar, always smiling in his bright orange hat. We may be spoilt for choice for sourdough spots in south-east London, but there’s something special about this one.

Mohammad works for Breadwinners, a not-for-profit social enterprise and charity which supports refugees through employment and work experience programmes. Founded by Marika Wilkinson in 2015, it now has 14 market stalls across London and Brighton and is hoping to expand into other cities.

Martin Cosarinsky Campos, CEO of the charity, tells me that Breadwinners “gives young refugees their first job in the UK, helps to change negative perceptions of refugees and inspires other organisations to offer them further employment opportunities.”

The charity supports refugees and asylum seekers from countries across the world including Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, and has worked with 273 refugees and young people seeking asylum so far.

In his native Iran, Mohammad was a political activist. “If I return to Iran, I am sure that I will be killed,” he tells me. As well as the risks to his safety, there were few opportunities to get a good job, so he made the difficult decision to leave. But after arriving alone in England, Mohammad was depressed.

“There were new streets, new buildings, new transport, and I didn’t speak the language. Imagine how that feels. ‘Where can I buy a new sim card? How can I meet people if I can’t communicate?’ It was crazy.”

One year later, and he’s chatting confidently with me in a cafe after his latest shift at Camberwell Green Market. Despite his long day working in the cold, he is keen to talk and his face lights up when I ask him what he enjoys about working in Camberwell.

“The best thing is engaging with people. If I stay at home and I think about my past and my situation, I can get depressed. But I like coming to the stall to speak to new people here.”

Martin agrees that Camberwell Green Market has a particularly positive atmosphere. There is “a beautiful community of traders and organisers”, he says, adding: “We support many young people living near the area and many Camberwell customers have ended up volunteering as mentors to the young people we support.”

Mohammad will work on the stall as a market manager for six months and can then move on to the charity’s Proofers Programme, working in the office selling bread to other businesses and learning new skills. When he’s not working on the stall at weekends, he also attends college and eventually wants to go to university to get a degree and begin a career.

Breadwinners is clearly having a positive impact on the lives of young people like Mohammad and Martin tells me that 94% of participants report an increase in wellbeing after completion of the Breadwinners programme, while 90% have gone on to secure further paid work.

Asked what they go on to do, he says: “We have future doctors studying at university, charity workers, IT consultants and many people in hospitality and services who will continue to grow and develop.”

One of the volunteers who supports the Camberwell market stall is Jessica Cruse. Jessica, 33, works in international development and volunteers with Breadwinners for a few hours each week. “I wanted to use some spare time to help a great cause and see what I could do to make a difference to the life of a refugee or an asylum seeker,” she says.

Mentors like Jessica are trained in safeguarding and communication skills before being paired with a mentee. Over three months, they attend the weekend markets where they coach their mentees from the sidelines to allow them to build the confidence to lead and engage with new people.

Volunteers and mentees also meet once during the week to track progress and goals. And Jessica likes to arrange light-hearted activities like hanging out at the park, visiting the local library and playing cards.

“You wouldn’t believe that a couple of hours a week could make such a difference. But it’s transformative,” she says. “Some of these young people have just arrived here and irrespective of how they have been treated, they want to contribute positively to society. It has completely changed the way I feel about our society and the people who arrive here.”

For some people, Breadwinners is their first taste of volunteering. But Jessica says that mentors are well looked after. “I would argue that you gain just as much as the people you support. I’ve learned so much from each of the mentees I’ve met. It’s a powerful experience. You’re giving up a couple of hours a week, and you get to be part of a big family and make a difference.”

But there are challenges to volunteering as a mentor to refugees and asylum seekers. “It’s difficult for our mentees to understand our legal and bureaucratic systems. Some of them are completely in limbo,” Jessica says. “There are times it gets really frustrating when you’re just waiting for paperwork or a phone call. But it’s my role to support them through that.”

Jessica explains that mentors can’t help with the legal side of asylum cases. “You have to humble yourself because you can’t fix everything. Sometimes I come away from sessions feeling deflated and upset with the

UK’s systems and structures. But I have to challenge myself and focus on the impact that I can have.”

As Mohammad and I finish our coffees and the conversation turns to more light-hearted topics, like British clothes and how many pastries he thinks he’s consumed since arriving, his face becomes more serious.

He gestures to my notebook and tells me: “Please write this down before we go. Young asylum seekers and refugees want to engage with society. We have lost everything and we come here with nothing. Give us any opportunity to stay and work for your country. We are not able to make ours beautiful anymore, so let us help you to make your countries beautiful.”

I tell Jessica about my chat with Mohammad and his desire to make a positive contribution to society. She nods in agreement and her eyes fill with tears. She apologises for getting emotional and tells me: “Breadwinners is amazing, the mentors are amazing, but the superstars are the mentees. Their resilience and their strength. We have all these myths about refugees. But no, they don’t want our jobs –they just really want to learn and study and be a part of society and Breadwinners gives them a taste of that. They get to sell bread, speak to local people and do something valuable.”

So, on Saturday, why not head down to Camberwell Green Market and bag yourself a sourdough loaf or a fresh croissant? Mohammad and the rest of the Breadwinners team would love to see you there.