{"id":322,"date":"2020-07-16T09:55:14","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T08:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/?p=322"},"modified":"2021-04-29T14:59:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T13:59:36","slug":"the-west-end-refugee-service-wers-at-20-histories-and-challenges-of-refuge-in-newcastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/2020\/07\/16\/the-west-end-refugee-service-wers-at-20-histories-and-challenges-of-refuge-in-newcastle\/","title":{"rendered":"The West End Refugee Service (WERS) at 20: Histories and challenges of refuge in Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Silvia Pasquetti and Cathrine Degnen<\/b> are Sociology staff members at Newcastle University<\/i>. Here they write about the experiences of asylum seekers in Newcastle, and the role the West End Refugee Service has played in supporting them over the past two decades. <\/i>(In addition to writing this blog, <\/em>Silvia and Cate took part in a webinar with WERS to mark its 20th anniversary. This can be viewed <\/i>here<\/a>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sauda is a refugee from Burundi who has lived in Newcastle since 2004. Like many other asylum seekers who were \u201cdispersed\u201d in Newcastle in the early 2000s, Sauda\u2019s early experiences of and in the city, were troubling and disorienting. Newcastle had become an asylum-dispersal city in the late 1990s as a result of the Home Office policy to \u201cdisperse\u201d asylum seekers outside the London area. Yet, the globally displaced people arriving in Newcastle had, at that time, little institutional or social support. They struggled to find people who spoke their languages or understood their experiences of displacement. They felt isolated and uncertain about the environment around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example,\nSauda was initially \u201cdispersed to Angel Heights,\u201d a now-closed accommodation\nfor single refugee women on Westgate Road opposite to the main hospital. Before\nbecoming an asylum centre for refugee women mostly from sub-Saharan Africa,\nAngel Heights hosted up to a hundred single Afghani men. Before that, it was a\nnurses\u2019 hostel. In the chapter that she dedicates to \u201cthe politics of\ndispersal\u201d in Newcastle in her book Human\nCargo <\/em>(2006), Caroline Moorehead describes Angel Heights as \u201cboth decent\nand dreadful; both humane and cruel.\u201d What impressed Moorehead the most was the\nsilence: \u201cAngel Heights is a waiting room, a building in which nothing happens.\nFew of its inhabitants speak English, and few can speak to each other\u2026Forbidden\nto work, they [the refugee women] have literally nothing to do; nothing, that\nis, except to worry\u2026They sit alone in large rooms full of cobalt-blue chairs in\nrows; they stand in the corridors; they queue by the single payphone. Angel\nHeights is quiet; when the women speak, they speak in whispers\u201d (p. 147). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite the\nisolation wrapped around her, it is at Angel Heights that Sauda heard from\nanother resident about the existence of the West End Refugee Service (WERS).\nThis informal conversation was the beginning of a more positive experience of\nrefuge for Sauda. For that is to say, about six years after Newcastle became an\nasylum-dispersal city, Sauda had tapped into a growing network of support in which\nthe local residents who eventually founded WERS in 1999 were key actors. These\nresidents were not particularly expert in refugee law or human rights issues.\nYet, they took note of all the changes and challenges that the arrival of\nglobally displaced people brings to a city. In a way, even when the language of\nsanctuary or protection was not explicitly used, these local Newcastle residents\nstarted to work to transform an asylum-dispersal site created through top-down\npolicies that are often (willingly or neglectfully) convoluted, fragmented, and\ncontradictory into a city of sanctuary where refugees can rebuild new lives,\nand local residents can also grow in knowledge of and involvement in global\nissues of injustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This network\nwas and still is striving to produce, solidify, and expand an environment of\npossibilities and growth for newly arrived refugees in the city. Each\nachievement brings a new challenge. Historical events such as the global\nfinancial crisis, Brexit, and, more recently the covid-19 outbreak, risk\nsetting the clock backward endangering some of the achievements reached\ngradually and with a lot of hard work against racist and anti-migrant practices\nand discourses. Yet, the case of WERS demonstrates that positive change can and\noften is effected from below in everyday life through everyday communication. Sauda\u2019s\nexperience of WERS in the last fifteen years confirms the importance of such a\nnetwork of support. It traces the way forward for newly arrived refugees who,\nunlike for her 15 years ago, often find a richer urban environment in both\nsocial and institutional opportunities. This trajectory emerges from how Sauda\ndescribes her encounter with WERS, an encounter that for her stood in stark\ncontrast with her experience of dread and isolation at Angel Heights: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I went [to WERS] and got some clothes from their store. WERS made me feel so welcome and I really liked what they were doing. I came back and asked to volunteer.  I have now volunteered on and off for WERS for 14 years which I still really enjoy doing.  My experience of being in the UK would have been so very difficult without WERS. I feel I had the whole team by my side fighting with me to get my leave to stay in the UK.  WERS has provided counselling, a weekend break at a Friary with David the counsellor and Helen from WERS, where I was able to relax. I still have very fond memories of the experience, I will never forget it!  WERS more recently referred me to Wise Steps and this has aided me to develop my skills and become more confident in my abilities! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over\nthe past year, we have been working with WERS to tell more of this complex and\nstill evolving story of its role and presence in the community here in\nNewcastle. We have been listening to and learning from the voices and\nexperiences of the people who make WERS what it is – founding members,\nvolunteers, support groups, refugees turned into volunteers, and members of the\nbroader local community – who first embarked in a transformative journey for\nthemselves and the city where they lived. Our reflections in this blog post\ndraw on our research interviews conducted this year as part of this work, and\nfrom 20 biographical stories of WERS clients that were assembled to commemorate\nthe past 20 years of the service. Called \u201c20 years, 20 stories\u201d, these personal\naccounts come from refugees and asylum seekers. They are their own reflections\non their experiences with and at WERS. These individuals have arrived in\nNewcastle from Zimbabwe, Algeria, Eritrea, Iran, Burundi, Nigeria, Israel,\nIndia, Sierra Leone, the Congo, Iraq, Iran, Cameroon and Nigeria. They are\nwomen and men recounting their own stories of the refugee and asylum seeking\nprocess in contemporary Britain, and specifically in the northeast of England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This permits us to research and tell the story of WERS from both historical and contemporary perspectives, through memories of the past and activities of the present. Both these personal narratives and the interviews with WERS stakeholders, staff, and founding members make clear the deep and pernicious challenges that people seeking refuge and asylum face in Britain. The system is cold, it is harsh, and it is often an impenetrable, faceless bureaucracy. There is a designed intentionality in this experience, the government\u2019s so-called \u201chostile environment\u201d, and it does damage to one\u2019s humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nmarked contrast, WERS is described time and time again by the people who come\nto it as offering a haven, as feeling like home. This is attributed in part to\nkey things that WERS helps with (such as finding housing, finding a solicitor,\nregistering with a GP, attending hospital appointments, understanding letters\nand paperwork, and making support payments), and the supplies it can provide (including\nclothing, bedding, toiletries, food parcels, and items to furnish one\u2019s home).\nThis assistance helps individuals who attend WERS, but also evident in the\ntestimonies are the positive ways in which this impact ripples out into\nfamilies as children, parents and siblings also benefit from the support and\nadvice delivered by WERS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But whilst these forms of\nassistance help generate a sense of home, it is also the connections of\nreliability and trust that emerge from the testimonies: \u201cWERS has been with me\nall the way through good times and bad and never gave up on me. WERS is not\njust a place to get things.\u201d  This sense\nof connection that WERS creates is present in Sauda\u2019s words above, and\nattributed by many of the \u201c20 years, 20 lives\u201d participants to the humanising\natmosphere that is built at WERS. People use \u201csafe\u201d, \u201ctrust\u201d, \u201chappy\u201d, and \u201cit\ntakes stress away\u201d as words to describe how the space at WERS makes them feel, as\nwell as these words to describe it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing a part\nof WERS helps you to feel integrated and part of the society you are living in,\nnot just the asylum process.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAli and\nHelen\u2019s faces, it makes me feel a part of something and not just an asylum\nseeker.  Familiarity is rare when\nclaiming asylum, there is so much that is unknown.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cComing to\nWERS has helped me to feel better about myself. \nBeing amongst people, being able to talk and feel relaxed has helped a\nlot. Just being able to sit and watch people helping each other makes me feel\nhappy, less isolated and more a part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWERS has\nhelped me to remain responsible, keep my dignity and independence!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am able to\ndress in smart suits from the store when I attend church or group\nmeetings.  I don\u2019t have to beg and ask\nothers for bus fare to Middlesbrough. \nWithout WERS I would have lost these things which are so important to\nme.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you for\nWERS you have given me my life back!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forced displacement ruptures the connections that knit us into place. Isolation, the unknowns of the asylum process and the loss of control over everyday circumstances can be profoundly dehumanising. These challenges can and do feel insurmountable and unyielding at times. But what we have learned from the memories of the recent past here in Newcastle and the activities of the present is how WERS mobilises its energies into a focus on emotional wellbeing, and dignity, alongside practical assistance. Both are key elements that help people like Sauda rebuild their lives by opening a possibility of sanctuary, and a possibility of becoming knit into place once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Silvia Pasquetti and Cathrine Degnen are Sociology staff members at Newcastle University. Here they write about the experiences of asylum seekers in Newcastle, and the role the West End Refugee Service has played in supporting them over the past two … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7295,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":341,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/pgrsociology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}