This week we have been lucky enough to hear from a volunteer at Sanctuary Hosting. Sanctuary Hosting is a charity that support refugees, migrants and asylum seekers who need somewhere to stay. The idea was birthed from an Oxford Refugees Welcome demonstration in 2015 and a brilliant response to the idea of opening up your home to help someone in need [Read more about their story here]. Below we hear from one volunteer family in MK as they share openly and honestly about their journey and experience of hosting… Take a look and why not think about hosting yourself? Email: info@sanctuaryhosting.org with any questions.

We’d like to thank both Sanctuary Hosting and their volunteer for sharing, we really appreciate this insight.

Our hosting experience…

“Some 3 years ago a friend mentioned Sanctuary Hosting. My wife and I were ignorant of this charity. In a nutshell they link guests, (normally people with no housing as a consequence of immigration/refugee status) with hosts. Hosts with a spare room take in a guest, a refugee or migrant, who has no home. It sounds simple… mostly it is that simple. But Air BnB it ain’t!

Following our friends comment we contacted Sanctuary Hosting. After a helpful and reassuring visit from a caseworker we were very soon welcoming our first guest. There were of course briefings and support visits of course, both for us and our guest. We soon had a set of ground rules and to be honest I was surprised how smoothly it all went. It was fairly informal but thorough and included our daughter who was 16 at the time. She enjoyed having a guest in the house.

Who are the guests?

We have hosted two guests but confidentiality paramount. So I will only give a flavour, avoiding too much personal detail. Suffice to say our first guest had been trafficked, in his early teens across Europe, eventually arriving in the UK alone still under 18 having passed through the notorious Sangatte Jungle camp.

After his experiences he was still surprisingly cheerful and positive, but
somewhat naïve, which was surprising after all what he had been through. As our guest he had the physical support of a guaranteed roof, bed, laundry and access to the kitchen. A simple routine soon set in and we would on occasion share a meal cooked either by the host or guest. So in a practical sense it was easy. As for food he received Red Cross food parcels so he was self-sufficient.

On a emotional and personal level he did need some support. He spoke
reasonable English but his reading and literacy skills were limited. Though
Sanctuary Hosting did mange to get him support from our local FE college. His understanding of bureaucracy was also poor. On a number of occasions we had to help with e.g Home Office letters which were usually written in “legalese’ and often dashed his hopes of progress. I must add that the case worker did sterling work but when a “bad news” letter arrived our guest did value having at least a sympathetic face and guidance on the implications at hand as soon as he opened it. A letter mentioning a possible removal to an Immigration Detention Center is not comforting reading even if it is unlikely to actually happen. Being there when such a letter arrives is important but also ensuring the case worker is kept up to date to provide any suitable “official “support.

In a nutshell it is important to be able to provide some comfort, but providing legal, financial support or advice etc. is absolutely not a host’s role. (No matter how tempting to join in!)

I can’t say much more without briefing confidentiality. He has moved on from us but does keep in touch on social media. The good news is that there some limited confidence he will establish a right to remain.

Again I cannot give too many details of our second guest.

This was a man who had been in the UK for some time and had a UK daughter though he and his wife were separated. There was a question over the status of his visa which meant he could no longer legally work or have any recourse to public funds. Essentially he went overnight from professional paid employment to being virtually destitute and likely to become homeless. After nine months and seemingly endless Home Office delays, “lost and mislaid” documents, he did receive his right to remain. In practical terms he was able to fight his corner against the home office. But emotionally the strain of trying to maintain regular contact sessions with his daughter and the necessary travel arrangements did tell on him. He was never a burden, (he was a good cook) and would sometimes share a meal with us, and take opportunity to just talk about what was happening.

Will we be hosts again?

Absolutely yes, though may have a pause.

Was it hard work?

Not really it was mostly straightforward with a few ups and downs.

What did we as hosts get out of it?

An education in parts of our society that are not visible if you have no involvement. There is also a certain satisfaction in doing something, which while not onerous to us, really did help someone in need.”

– Sanctuary Hosting, Volunteer Host, Milton Keynes

For more information please contact Sanctuary Hosting at info@sanctuaryhosting.org, or follow them on twitter and Facebook