Refugee response – ‘Anyone could be in their situation’

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

WITH more than 100 million displaced people in the world, the need for neighbourly love is great. Ben Still, The Salvation Army’s refugee response manager in the UK, says: ‘It’s clearly an issue that’s not going away any time soon, so we can’t just ignore it.’

Since September last year Ben has been working in the newly created role, which reflects both the need and the church and charity’s commitment to meet it. One of its biggest contributions to the crisis in recent years has been through community sponsorship.

‘Community sponsorship is where a church or community group – as opposed to the local authority – takes responsibility for resettling a refugee family into their area,’ says Ben. ‘They find a house, raise money, put together a support plan and then support the family’s resettlement for the next year.

‘The Salvation Army has been involved in that since the scheme started in the UK in 2016, and it has welcomed eight families in different places in the UK. Community sponsorship has been shown to be a very effective way of resettling people. The outcomes for those people are generally a lot better than those who have been resettled statutorily, because they’ve got a whole community of people who are coming around them. It’s a slower process, but it makes a deeper change.’

Before his appointment as refugee response manager, Ben had already been volunteering in community sponsorship with E123 Welcomes, a group that his Salvation Army church in Stepney, east London, had helped to form in 2019.

The group welcomed a family in June 2021, which, he says, was a ‘positive experience’.

He says that he was motivated to play a part in community sponsorship after becoming frustrated by the language that people were using about refugees in 2015.

‘I thought community sponsorship was a good way of helping people to engage with refugees and to understand their story and why it’s important to do what we can to support those fleeing from war and persecution – and to try to change some of the national conversation around the issue. The evidence is that community

A refugee resettlement centre in Poland

sponsorship does do that over time as people get to meet refugees in their communities.’

The work that was carried out in developing community sponsorship, says Ben, laid the foundations for the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Since war broke out in Ukraine in February last year, countries across Europe have sought to help. More than 157,000 Ukrainian refugees have been welcomed into the UK, and many Britons have taken their European neighbours into their homes.

The Salvation Army is a partner of Sponsor Refugees, which is run by community-organising alliance Citizens UK. The project facilitates groups that want to welcome a refugee family into their neighbourhood.

Ben explains: ‘We help with matching, so people who are linked to The Salvation Army and want to host refugees will contact us and then we arrange a match between them and a Ukrainian.

‘A number of our churches have welcome hubs and drop-in sessions for Ukrainian guests. Some also hold a session where local statutory services, such as people from the NHS, the job centre or the housing department, will come so that people can engage with all the different services in one go.’

Through The Salvation Army’s partnership with Citizens UK, Ben went to Warsaw to visit some refugee resettlement centres.

‘These are places where people who are leaving Ukraine are first registered,’ he explains. ‘Essentially they are big warehouses. There are huge empty rooms with rows and rows of beds, where there are thousands of people sleeping, waiting to be able to move to somewhere more permanent where they can start a new life.

‘My visit highlighted to me the fact that there are people and families living in situations that you wouldn’t imagine people would be living in. They’re on top of each other on camp beds in a large room. We, as a country, have done amazingly in responding to this need, but we need more hosts because there are still a lot of people who need a safe place to be.

‘There are at least one million registered Ukrainian refugees in Poland. They are from all walks of life who do all sorts of jobs. I was talking to a surgeon in one of the centres who was hoping to be able to work in Poland.

‘The reality of the situation hits you. There was a mum walking out of the centre in minus two degrees all wrapped up, with her little boy trailing behind her, who must have been the same age as my son. You realise that it could quite easily be anyone in their situation. And if it was me, how would I want to be treated by the countries that could help?’

Ben’s Christian faith is intrinsic to his desire to help.

‘I couldn’t see how I could have faith and not do something to respond to refugees,’ he says. ‘There’s a huge need for the church to be involved in refugee resettlement and welcoming people who are coming to our country seeking sanctuary from oppression and injustice.’ l For more information email refugeeresponse@salvationarmy.org.uk