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Broken Society

Northampton: She Beams, Now

Published: 16th Jun 2017
TWO months ago, when Rosy first visited the Step-Up drop-in, she was depressed.

"Lower than I’ve ever been in my life", she explains. Her partner had suffered a mental breakdown and consequently their relationship had deteriorated. She began using hard drugs in an attempt to escape her despair.

At rock bottom, she decided to visit the Jesus Centre. On entry to the Step-Up she found somebody to talk to and pour out her grief to. She was reassured and comforted, offered food, drink and emotional support. Rosy returned many times and continued to find the help she needed. She describes a peace and strength that she credits to God with a gratitude that wells up to her eyes. With help from other agencies...
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Coventry: The plight of refused asylum seekers

Published: 31st May 2016
“MY circumstances were very hard. I was homeless and without any income, sometimes going without a shower for weeks. As a single person, I was only allowed three food vouchers per year. I was depressed and in a foreign city on my own...”

There are many refused asylum seekers in the UK today. About 29,000 people applied for asylum in the UK in 2015 – and over half of them were turned down. (BBC news Feb 2016.)

This story, told by a young man who has so far been refused asylum, highlights the difficulties many face in the UK after often fleeing oppressive regimes, violence and war. They find themselves, unenviably, trapped ‘between a rock and a hard place’.

He tells his story.

...
Comments Read more on the Coventry Jesus Centre site »
Coventry: Faces behind the statistics

Julia Faire works as an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher at Coventry Jesus Centre where she meets many refugees and asylum seekers. She writes about two asylum seekers she has met.
Published: 26th May 2016
THE world is facing the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War: at present there are around 59.5 million people who have been forcibly displaced in the world. The UK is home to less than 1% of the world’s refugees (UNHCR Mid-Year Trends 2015).

Germany and Hungary together receive over half of all asylum applications made in the EU. From January to September 2015, Britain received around 3% of all asylum claims made in the EU.

Entry to the UK for asylum seekers and refugees is difficult – but there is no such thing an illegal asylum seeker according to international law. Asylum seekers make up only a small percentage of new arrivals in...
Comments Read more on the Coventry Jesus Centre site »
Coventry: Refugees Welcome

Coventry Jesus Centre runs ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes for refugees and immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe. Julia Faire works at the centre as an ESOL teacher. She writes of her experience.
Published: 25th Sep 2015
ANOTHER new ESOL student: so many young men from overseas have arrived in our city over the summer months. He lingers after the class has finished. It’s time to pack up but he wants to stay and, sensing this, I sit down and listen.

Listen … listening is magic.

He tells me his story. A close family member finds he is guilty of illicit activity and informs the police; his life is in danger, he flees to a neighbouring country. There he goes ‘underground’ and finds illegal work; he daren’t appear in public because what if he is found and deported home? Long hours labour, a pittance for pay, sleeping under the work benches of the factory at night; eventually he moves on, working his way...
Comments Read more on the Coventry Jesus Centre site »
Coventry: A Course to Celebrate

Julia Faire celebrates diversity
Published: 26th Mar 2015
If you’re visiting the chippie today for what you think is a real British meal, please tell yourself that it was refugees fleeing Portugal, France and Spain several hundred years ago who first introduced fish and chips to England!

I’ve been designing and running a new course at Coventry Jesus Centre: ‘UK: a Mix of Cultures: Imports, Immigrants and Refugees.’ Students are learning English (I’m an ESOL teacher); they’re also learning about the unique and huge contribution immigrants to the UK have made over the years. I’m learning too... I had no idea just how large that contribution was – and it’s a cause to celebrate.
Comments Read more on the Coventry Jesus Centre site »