Many years ago, the Sisters of the Holy Family of St Emilie and the Jesuits in Britain piloted the JRS At Home hosting scheme. Today, thanks to their ongoing commitment to our work, those who first opened their doors to our refugee friends have now made two housing projects possible.
Donate items to help make our new men’s house a home
We know that safe and stable accommodation is, increasingly, one of the most pressing challenges of a complexly hostile environment. This is why over the past 10 years, JRS UK has been working alongside our supporters to develop and expand our Accommodation Project; growing our hosting community, and more recently, opening houses for our refugee friends to live independently.
Many of our refugee friends require a longer-term and more stable accommodation option than hosting – particularly if they have health needs, are receiving trauma counselling or need to engage intensively with their legal case.
Thanks to the kindness of the Sisters of the Holy Family of St Emilie, in 2021 we were delighted to be able to open a house to female refugee friends – Emilie House.
This transformative new provision has offered our refugee friends a unique opportunity to regain independence and vital life-skills. Emilie House gives people the chance to belong to a growing community of residents, staff, and volunteers. Our refugee friends have been able to settle into a home that feels equally their own, for a long-term placement, until other accommodation options become available to them.
When Emilie House was officially opened, one of the first residents shared that she: “hope(s) that JRS can get other more houses to help more people in the future”.
The good news is that this has become a reality! Emilie House will now be a model for Amani House, our new home for male refugee friends. The Jesuits in Britain have made this property available to us and many other generous Catholic partners have made financial contributions to support the sustainability of the project or cover the running costs.
Amani (Am – ah – nee) translates to hope/wishes in Arabic, and peace in Swahili.
Preparations are currently underway to open Amani House this winter to our male refugee friends.
The impact of providing long term accommodation at Emilie House can be seen in Sara’s story.
Sara is a natural carer and extrovert. She is at her happiest when sharing conversation and food with other people. It doesn’t matter where someone is from or if they don’t speak the same language, she always makes them feel welcome. When Sara* was referred to JRS her confidence was diminished and she was in a very difficult situation. The trauma she has experienced both in her home country and in the UK has affected her mental and physical health and she struggles with this.
Sara still has many battles ahead, but she now has a home. She speaks to the other residents, staff and volunteers and this distracts her from her struggles. She is often also supporting other residents, checking they are taking care of themselves and telling jokes to lift their mood. She has brought so much laughter to the house.
Sara joins in with activities at the house, like sewing and gardening, and can now host her friends again – cooking, sharing food and relaxing in the company of others. She has started weekly volunteering doing something she is passionate about, and her mood seems lifted each time we see her return from a session and hear her stories from the day.
Having somewhere stable to live independently has had a huge impact on Sara’s confidence and general health. The support of the wider JRS team enables her to keep focussed on her asylum case even when it is difficult, and she is no longer afraid that she is going to be made homeless again at any moment.
“The house changed a lot of my life, because before I come in, I couldn’t sleep all night. I’m scared at night. I doing a lot of thinking what will happen to me, but now I can support people. I get the people support me, anytime I talk to them. They give me a support, moral support, and I’m more better now.”
Sara’s real name has been replaced to protect her identity.
We are incredibly grateful for the kindness of our dedicated supporters for making such important services available to our refugee friends.
We look forward to keeping you up to date as the men’s house becomes a home.
