This half term refugee families enjoyed a fantastic day out at London Zoo! 18 parents and grandparents, 36 children, and 7 of the JRS team experienced a joyful and noisy day out at the Zoo.
Naomi, our Communities of Hospitality Coordinator, who accompanied the families to zoo, said “It was a really lovely day, the weather was perfect, and it was great to see the children running around, excited by the lions, giraffes and penguins. All the children seemed suitably exhausted by the end of the day!”
Each year, we try to organise two family days out, enabling our refugee friends and their children to take part in activities that many other families and schoolmates would ordinarily do during the holidays. People seeking asylum have no right to work, and often no recourse to public funds, so family outings to the Zoo or the aquarium are often prohibitively expensive. Jonathan, Head of Accompaniment at JRS UK, “As well as being great fun, and offering some much needed respite from the challenges of daily life, the family outings allow children to be able to answer the inevitable question from teachers and school friends, ‘what did you do in the holidays?’. Being able to form the memories of watching the lions being fed, or the difference in a penguins waddle vs them gliding with elegance is something extra special.”
Mercy, one of our friends who came with us to the zoo, said “The girls want to say a big thanks to JRS, we do really appreciate our going out today. Thank you.”
JRS UK are only able to organise day trips and family outings thanks to the generous donations of our supporters.
Naomi continued, “Two parents came over and said how much coming on the zoo trip had meant for them. The mother said that it is so nice that people are always smiling, and they are very grateful that their daughter could come to the zoo.”
Jonathan finished by saying, “I was really happy that all of our friends were able to make it for the day out. With so many other things going on in their lives it was nice to see everyone had a fun day out and all the children seemed to really enjoy themselves. I really liked the giraffes.”