Little things with big meanings

LAST week I met a 20-year-old Syrian refugee who had recently been attacked for the heinous crime of going into an English supermarket.

He and a friend – both bright students who had fled a war – had been accommodated in a hotel in a Liverpool suburb while they waited for the Home Office to decide if they can have asylum here. They went into town to buy some essentials from their pitiful allowance and, on leaving the supermarket, were accosted by a gang of five youths simply for being refugees.

One of the five threw a bike at them, causing injuries that required medical attention,. The gang then chased them for more than a mile, until they reached the hotel. Neither of them ever stepped foot outside again until they were relocated to another city.

Government’s rhetoric fuels hatred

The horrific truth in 2023 is that such attacks on refugees are becoming commonplace in our towns and cities.

As well as the physical attacks there is verbal abuse, unwanted filming and harassment at hotels. And besides that there is general hostility, suspicion and wariness for which this Government’s hateful rhetoric must be held responsible.

Because when you tell ordinary people that their country is being invaded and that refugees are in effect criminals because you have made claiming asylum into a crime, what can you expect?

All this conspires to instil a belief that refugees are somehow less human than us. It doesn’t really matter if their feelings are hurt, or if they can’t live normal lives – or if they die in the English Channel.

And there is a strange double standard; Ukrainian refugees are ‘real’ refugees, genuinely deserving of our sympathy and our help.

Restoring human dignity

Care4Calais’ approach is about restoring people’s human dignity. Aid – donations and support – is delivered in ways that help people who have been through horrific experiences feel human again. English lessons and games, chats and jokes are just as important as physical items. When you have the right goal in mind, such little things can have big meanings.

Of course, what would really help is if the Government sorted out the backlog of asylum claims and got people into work and wider society. The people we support overwhelmingly want a peaceful life and to contribute to their community – things that were probably denied them at home, and are now denied them here.

In the meantime, we can tell them they are welcome, and simply have a conversation with them as one human to another. So often they have been ostracised, vilified and dehumanised, be that through persecution or imprisonment and torture. So often what they want more than anything is to be “normal”, and treated as an individual.

Contrary to the vile propaganda currently being spread about them, the refugees we help do not want to be treated as special. Being the same as everyone else will do them fine. And it is the least they deserve.

Refugee pupils

The NEU has published a resource –Welcoming refugee children to your school – which has been translated into four other languages. It includes short films of refugee children speaking about how important their welcome at school in this country was to them.

Visit neu.org.uk/refugee