CHAIR’S REPORT
It is close to six months since I took over from Julia as Chair of the Board of Trustees and it has taken me this long to fully comprehend the full extent of the work that RRN does. This edition of the Newsletter beautifully illustrates both the breadth and quality of the work that is being carried out and it is plain that RRN is quietly getting on with the task of helping those most in need of help in our refugee community. Putin’s egregious decision to invade Ukraine has had a ripple effect across the world and brought challenges to our own doorsteps. I think everyone would agree that in rising to those challenges RRN has not been found wanting and in reading what follows I trust you will share a sense of pride that is created by the work of this small charity that you all so generously support.
One of the mysteries that has been solved for me recently is how so much can be achieved by such a relatively small team and with such modest resources. As I have become more familiar with RRN’s work it has become apparent that it is the concentration of talent, dedication and energy, combined with the partnerships RRN makes with like-minded organisations, that enables so much to be achieved. On behalf of all the Trustees I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has given up time and energy to volunteer to help or to work with RRN on the projects RRN supports. I would also like to thank Ian and Sophie for their contributions to the work of the Board of Trustees and particularly thank Julia for giving us all the inspiration and the structure to channel our energy constructively.
Nurturing and expanding partnerships is an identified priority for RRN as it is recognised that in order to meet the expanding need for assistance RRN must work in conjunction with others. We all owe Nadia on so many fronts and it is her vast experience of working within the refugee sector that is forming RRN’s strategy going forward. With this in mind the Trustees are working to ensure that the organisation continues to review its policies, procedures and structures in order to maximise opportunities that come our way and in particular put us in a position to apply for and win grant funding. It is with particular pride that RRN recently announced the grant that it has been awarded by HIWFC to run ESOL lessons as described below and it is hoped that RRN will be able to continue to expand its programmes through successful grant applications in future. The HIWFC funded ESOL programme illustrates that through working in partnership, in this case with the National Career Service, we can optimise use of valuable but limited resources.
We cannot, however, exist on grant funding alone and whilst the success of the Art Sale and a sponsored walk organised by Bedales School has put RRN in a comfortable position we need to look to the future. With this in mind, we are hoping to recruit another Trustee with fundraising experience to lead on this front and will shortly be advertising this position. Please let us know if you are aware of someone you might like to put us in touch with. In the short term we will be looking for help as we start planning fund- raising events in the months to come so please do look out for specific requests to get involved.
There are so many factors destabilising populations across the globe from climate disruption to political upheaval and the pressure on our country to accommodate displaced people is not going to diminish no matter what promises our political leaders may wish to make to the electorate. RRN will continue to use its extensive experience working in this field to scrutinise public policy as it changes and will continue to campaign for a fair and humane system that enables those fleeing tyranny to be able to find sanctuary in the United Kingdom. RRN will also continue to spread the message, through stories like the ones you will read below, that supporting and investing in the refugees within our community will be to the long-term advantage of everyone in this country.
Anne Tutt, Chair
CEO’S REPORT
A huge thank you to all our volunteers and supporters. The RRN has achieved so much during 2022, our work has expanded tremendously since 2019 with new successful projects such as the dedicated ESOL provision for Ukrainians and the South Downs Youth Discovery (see evaluation section).
‘I am Alina Zvolinska and I arrived in Petersfield in April 2022 with my daughter. I joined the English classes set up by RRN at St Laurence church hall because I needed to improve my English so that I could talk with my hosts and my English friends and look for a job. The English classes improved my English and connected me with other Ukranian people in Petersfield as well as my beautiful teachers, Hilary Wright and Susanni Jameson. Now I have a job in Gingers café in One Tree bookshop. My colleagues are wonderful, they have been very helpful and I am learning so much about English life as well as continuing to improve my English. I love working with them. My daughter is enrolled at Godalming College and is enjoying it very much. We are very happy to be living in Petersfield’.
Our Community Team of volunteers have continued to tailor their response and work together supporting six Afghan families. The RRN also recently worked with Bedales and Two Saints to offer a full bursary to a young Afghan boy. Our team of volunteers have continued to support Syrian families including recently moving into a new property and welcoming new babies! Home Start Butser are also doing amazing work supporting an asylum-seeking family.
Winton House organised three fantastic day outings for the Afghan families with the help of the Age Concern transport team. The half term outing was at the Kings Arms Youth Project for all the Afghan and Syrian families. We shared delicious food from Afghanistan, Syria and Britain! The children had a lot of fun creating art work and other activities.
We successfully delivered our 1:1 Education and Employment Programme. In November, Hilary Wright and Anne Downing supported one Ukrainian lady, Olena, to get back into the medical profession. Olena said ‘I am grateful – firstly I have started to speak more confidently and know new vocabulary. Secondly, I have spent an interesting time talking and practicing interview techniques. I have improved my grammar skills. I am looking forward to working at the hospital in London as a clinical Observer within the Cardiology department for one month. I am confident that this experience will have a real benefit on my career in the future’.
Abdul, from Afghanistan, took part in the 8 week Education and Employment program with Hilary. After initially hoping to train as a plumber he has been supported by Mike, a local electrician who inspired and encouraged him to consider training as an electrician. Mike has subsequently provided Abdul with a tool kit and Abdul has accompanied Mike getting work experience on many different jobs.
Mike says “It is a privilege and honour to be able to support someone who has had their life turned upside down by conflict and so diligent in making a new life for his family.’
RRN has continued to engage with stakeholders in both statutory and voluntary sectors at local, regional and national level.
Going into 2023 with some good news!
We are delighted to announce that RRN has been awarded a generous grant from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation. This grant will allow us to expand the programme of support to refugees in East Hampshire; specifically, it is proposed that RRN will provide ESOL tuition and careers support to Ukrainian refugees in the Petersfield area. ESOL classes will be run over a five month period for those with both basic and intermediate level English and to supplement the programme, The National Careers Service will deliver a workshop on finding work in the UK, as well as employment advice and support. This programme will make a tangible difference to the lives of many of those who have arrived in the area, particularly those who need to improve their language skills in order to settle into their new lives here.
An RRN supporter pledged to purchase a house to rent to a refugee family. We are excited to announce that in the last few months, we have worked with the buyer and the seller on a lovely 3 bed property in the Havant area. The property has now been approved under the ARAP and Afghan Resettlement Scheme. We continue to work with Hampshire County Council and Havant Borough Council through all the formalities. We are expecting the property to be ready in March.
Thank you to Andy Crowe for his support working with the landlord and supporting myself throughout the process!
If you would like to pledge to buy a property for a refugee family, we have been offered a lovely 2 bed property in central Havant. Please contact us at hello@ruralrefugeenetwork.org if you can help.
Nadia Potts, CEO
FINANCE
We continue to be in healthy financial shape due to some magnificent fundraising efforts with our current income matching our expenditure on unrestricted funds, with much of our current work funded by specific grants. This positions us well while we secure more properties and will enable us to support new families when they arrive as well as issue discretionary grants.
I took on the role of temporary Treasurer in 2020 with a view to finding someone with the expertise and enthusiasm to take over the role on a more permanent basis. Two and a half years later I am delighted that this is now the case and I am in the process of handing over to Richard Ainscow who has direct experience in taking on this role with other groups and in the voluntary sector generally. I would like to welcome him to RRN and look forward to working with him. I will remain as a Trustee.
Anthony Thistleton-Smith, Acting Treasurer
FUNDRAISING
Throughout 2022 we have made grants of to Afghans and Ukrainians covering essential clothing, IT equipment, essential household equipment, online training as well as sourcing many donated items.
Our generous supporters have donated much needed goods and money to help the refugees in our area. Just a few examples include clothing, buggy and bedding for twin babies born to Syrian refugees. Stair gates have been given to an Afghan family to keep their children safe away from stairs. Another Afghan family have been given a sewing machine to make their own clothes………we would love more of those, so if anyone has a working machine to donate, please let us know!
Furniture and kitchen equipment have helped two lovely Ukrainian mums with teenagers to set up their own shared home after coming to the end of their time with hosts.
A donor has supplied us with a wealth of iPhones, iPads and laptops, all thoughtfully cleaned out and set up ready to go, which have been invaluable for online learning for both adults and children.
General furniture donations are best gifted through Facebook pages. When we have a need, we will definitely shout out!
And of course, continued financial support for our work comes though The East Hants Lottery, where regular donations from you, our supporters, also benefit you with a chance to win cash prizes for yourselves!
Last, but definitely not least, the gift aided funds given to us via our webpage enable us to rely on an income when we aren’t able to run fundraising events.
EVALUATION
I’m delighted to share the learning from two pieces of evaluation research I led on behalf of the trustees over the summer. As you know, the Rural Refugee Network’s core activity has been settling families in our communities through resettlement programmes. This year, the trustees have initiated a couple of projects, funded by external grants, that use our collective experience, networks and expertise in a different way, to support others fleeing conflict and violence and seeking safety in our community.
Firstly, the South Downs Youth Discovery Project, and secondly, ESOL tuition for Ukrainian refugees hosted here. We had amazing anecdotal feedback that people loved each initiative. So we set out to systematically look at why that was, what we could learn, whether there were things that didn’t actually work as well as intended, how we could make future initiatives even better.
The South Downs Youth Discovery Project was an initiative for young people who came to the UK alone and are therefore in the care of the local authority in Portsmouth and Hampshire.
The evaluation was 7 months into the year-long pilot, as we wanted to inform both the rest of the pilot and bids for further funding. I interviewed 6 people organising, working or volunteering on it, and also had a brief survey to easily gather views from a wider range of people, such as foster carers. We also held a focus group with the young people during a project day out at Alice Holt in July.
The young people told us that they value the relationships they’ve built, with each other and with the adults on the days out, sharing experiences and learning together in a safe, inclusive atmosphere, finding out about the beautiful countryside we’re surrounded by that they would not otherwise know about. They particularly liked the nature aspect. One of them said, for example, “It’s very amazing place very green and beautiful and I love nature that’s why I am relaxed in the green place”.
The project is meeting its stated aims, and the full report on the website contains the project’s logic model that sets these out. The evaluation found that the project has had a positive impact not only on the young people but also on volunteers and stakeholders. Interviewees and survey respondents also reflected on some of the project’s challenges, such as travel time, with helpful ideas going forward.
The themes indicate that the supportive community of young people from diverse cultures and shared experience provides a safe space to learn, to understand their local environment and the environmental sector, to be creative, to enjoy the outdoors and to have hope for the future.
The evaluation identified factors underpinning the success of the project’s approach:
1) Knowledge, skills and learning
2) Positive relationships
3) Feeling connected to the local environment
4) Feeling settled
I’d like to share a few quotes from the research:
“Just very very positive, they really are happy, it’s very humbling how engaged they are and the atmosphere.” (Workshop lead)
“I felt confident and happy. The people here very respectful and their faces smile and it’s very welcome. I am very happy from them.” (Participant)
And finally, a volunteer’s observation that “Having spoken to most of the participants throughout the day, it became evident that this project has been a place of solace for them.”
Many thanks to the South Downs National Park, Nordson Corporation and Bedales School for support of this project.
Secondly, the evaluation of the ESOL classes for Ukrainian refugees looked at this pilot project which was a response to there being no local provision for newly-arrived Ukrainian guests to study English until the new academic term. Nadia worked with East Hants District Council to scope a pilot programme from June to August, which EHDC kindly funded under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
RRN’s qualified teachers, Hilary and Susanni, ran two classes, beginners and intermediate, each of which had two lessons a week and students also benefited from RRN’s employment expertise.
Towards the end of the 8 weeks, students completed a survey, I held focus groups with the intermediate students in the final lesson and incorporated Hilary and Susanni’s reflections on successes and challenges. My main findings were as follows.
Students rated the teachers incredibly highly and felt their English had massively improved, many citing their hosts saying how much better they were. Something else that also came through strongly was how much they valued the supportive community these classes had created. This was a hastily put-together pilot and the report lists some helpful learning which has been valuable as RRN plans future provision. The evaluation also flagged the need for tailored support for these mainly highly-qualified refugees to access professional work.
To end on a quote again:
“For me to speak English, means to write better, to speak better, to read better, to find a good job and to be safe. And help Ukraine”
The evaluation reports are on our website (under newsletters), and have been shared with funders and key stakeholders.
I was incredibly humbled by the experience, particularly of speaking to the participants in each of these projects – the positivity, clarity and enthusiasm with which they approached both the project and my research.
These two small evaluations demonstrated, in addition to the specific things I’ve just outlined, how the Rural Refugee Network is a truly strong network, full of implicit knowledge but also constantly learning, connecting threads of generous and open people like yourselves who will pull out all the stops together to make our little corner of the world more welcoming, more inclusive, more caring.
Kath Lawrence, Trustee
YOUTH DISCOVERY PROJECT
The South Downs Youth Discovery Project continued adventures into the South Downs National Park this past autumn. Our group members are ever changing as new children come into the project. So far we’ve had kids from Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iran, Vietnam, Eritrea, Albania and Egypt. It’s been really wonderful to witness the comaraderie amongst the boys who hail from all over the globe and have varying levels of English.
In October we spent a beautiful day visiting Stansted Park Estate where our ramble around the trails ended in the ancient apple orchard. The boys had fun with the Highland Cattle and collected a variety of heritage apples. We wheeled bushels of fruit over to the Stansted Farm Shop where everyone helped make the most delicious apple juice. They cooked flatbread, grilled lamb and vegetables on the BBQ and enjoyed the feast.
In early December, Bedales staff and students organised a fabulous day of activities. After a tour of the school everyone bundled into the warm gymnasium for a session of badminton and table tennis. Fun was had by all—helped on by a bit of competition among the group.
The boys had a thoroughly joyful time visiting with resident pigs, goats, sheep; they fed the animals and groomed the ponies. In the bakehouse, lovely Gaye had prepared dough for the group to make into mince pies and there was plenty of biscuit dough to shape into Christmas cookies. A festive and happy day out.
We kicked off 2023 with fly fishing lessons at Meon Springs and a tour of the farm and dairy at White Wool Farm. The boys showed incredible patience and enjoyed learning about casting and catching despite the cold weather. Thankfully the sun shone and the trout bit–6 fat trout were reeled in to great excitement. They learned about the wheat growning, soil health and finally had a milking lesson at the dairy.
Thank you to Bedales School, the South Downs National Park and Nordson Corporation for support with our programme. We are looking forward to carrying on the project through 2023 and are planning our outings now. If any of you have ideas for workshops or venues please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you!
Trauma Informed Model of Care (TIMOC) Workshop
In December, Katherine Lawrence, Nadia Potts and I attended a ‘Trauma Informed Model of Care’(TIMOC) workshop delivered by Dr Senior, Clinical Psychologist and Lead for Trauma Informed Model of Care (TIMOC) at CAMHS STaRT. The workshop provided a fantastic overview of working with young people who have experienced trauma. We met with a small group via Zoom—including social workers who support unaccompanied asylum seeking children in care.
The point of the training was to introduce us to trauma and how it might manifest in the children we work with and how we can better support them as they settle in the UK. We learned tips on how to help the children feel safe, to develop trust which in turn empowers them to share their voices. Although much of the advice was for social workers and foster carers, we can use a lot of the knowledge for our work with the South Downs Youth Discovery Project. It was an excellent workshop with some very practical and helpful advice. Nadia is looking into the possibility of further training with our volunteers and stakeholders tailored to working with refugees of all ages.
Emily Mott, Trustee
HELP NEEDED
RRN is looking for an experienced fundraiser to join the Board of Trustees. RRN‘s committed volunteers and trustees are always supportive of fundraising initiatives so there would be plenty of support available for someone taking on this role. RRN is a warm and welcoming charity and would be delighted to find someone who has ideas, enthusiasm and a few hours a week to spare.
If you or anyone you know might be interested, please email hello@
SAVE THE DATE!
Our next Open Meeting for all our volunteers and supporters will take place on Monday, 27th February from 18.30 to 20.00 at St Laurence Church, 12 Station Road, Petersfield, GU32 3ED. More information to come soon.
