Beyond borders: Creating a Society Where Everyone Belongs

When migrants with any type of visa arrive in another country, all they want to feel is welcome.
They want to feel they are with people who respect them, with their family, their friends, and their community.
That is generally true for any human being, including migrants. 

This situation becomes more complicated with asylum seekers and refugees, as they have their own challenges and many struggles that they have to face either during their journeys or after arrival. Many refugees and asylum seekers are talented, but because of conflicts, persecution, and systemic inequalities, they have to flee their own countries. They have to flee to survive. 

When they arrive in a new country like the UK, for example, they have a lot to think about. Could I adapt quickly? Could I start again from scratch despite all the achievements I reached before? Will it be feasible to stay without work for a time? Would I be okay without family here? 

And besides all of these questions and doubts, which are embedded within our human nature, they often have to think about their legal cases, the decision-making process, and any new government bills that might be discussed, introduced, and could change their situation. 

Only by establishing a network of people and support from organisations that work to assist marginalised communities can they find help and get informed. These organisations often bring people together, help them create connections and meet new friends, provide advice, and facilitate their lives – whether morally or practically. These organisations help refugees and asylum seekers, those who are often stuck in limbo without access to justice, the healthcare system, or education. They help them build up their parallel lives in the UK, where they can live. But more than that, these organisations often support them when they need to escape the mental and physical impact of this abnormal life, made only of problems, that is being forced upon them. 

Once I moved to the UK, I started my voluntary work in England and then in Scotland. Here, I began working in the human rights sector.
Without doing this work, I would have died.
It gave me purpose. I had a chance to prove my skills and invest in them. This helps me when I need to face many of my own problems. 

As a Muslim woman who wears the niqab, covering my face, I sometimes face individual acts of unwelcoming behaviour. 

Some of them were really scary for me and my family. But with the support of my friends and connections through the different organisations I’m working with now, I’m able to get through this. They helped me with advice, or I can speak to colleagues who are lawyers, or they send me cards and messages showing that they are here for me. 

I firmly believe that people need a chance to prove their skills. However, that becomes difficult when they don’t feel welcome and integrated into society. That’s when the role of third-sector organisations can help and support, and that’s why it’s important to be part of community groups that become a second family.