Rehoming Syrian refugees in Oxford – how to get involved

We were met by our community sponsors who had volunteered to support my family as we rebuilt our lives in Oxford.

Their support has been life-changing for me and my family.

Read also: Taxi 'boxed in' by armed police in major incident in Oxford

Just two years into our new lives here, we’re speaking English, working, and now supporting other vulnerable people in Oxford by delivering food parcels during the coronavirus lockdown.

Sadly, the pandemic has grounded flights that were due to bring other refugees like us to safety in the UK.

But I’m hopeful that the strengthening of community spirit during the outbreak of coronavirus will lead more groups of friends, neighbours and colleagues to join the community sponsorship movement and support families like mine when flights resume.

So, what is community sponsorship?

It’s a refugee resettlement programme that enables groups of ordinary people to support families like mine throughout our first year in the UK with everything from finding school places to registering with a GP, learning English and getting a job.

It helps refugees like us to integrate into our new communities much sooner and gives sponsors a practical opportunity to make a tangible difference.

Read also: Golf club under threat from warehouse plans

The UK government only started the scheme in 2016, which is why you might not have heard of it, but it’s been running around the world successfully for decades.

From the moment we landed in the UK, our sponsors, who had met at Sunday mass in Blackfriars in central Oxford, became our community.

They helped with all the seemingly small things that are so tricky when you move to a new country, like opening a bank account and working out how to pay bills.

As well as practical support, they helped us feel welcome and at home: I always say that my children have six grandmothers because they have so many women doting on them!

Most importantly, my sponsors supported me to apply for my job.

I work at the Pitt Rivers Museum researching and writing reports on their Syrian objects as part of the Multaka-Oxford project.

Once I started work, I felt happy because I knew that I was providing for my family and paying taxes. I’ve become so interested in history since starting work there that I hope to do a history degree one day.

The support of everyone in the Blackfriars Community Sponsorship group has helped me gain a fantastic quality of life really quickly, and this has allowed me to give back during this crisis, for which I’d like to say a huge thank you.

Read also: Policeman banned for life for stealing fry-up breakfasts

Since Ramadan began, I’ve helped the Central Oxford Mosque to deliver 150 food parcels to vulnerable people around Oxford who can’t get out of their homes.

Two weeks ago I also began delivering weekly food parcels to vulnerable refugees from Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia with SYRCOX, the Oxford foodbank and sOPHIa Oxford.

We love being able to exchange some of our traditions with our sponsors and the wider Oxford community.

At Eid, our community sponsors come to celebrate with us, and at Christmas we love going to their parties and church services.

Last year we made Syrian sweets to bring to the church.

I feel like I have a second family here in Oxford, and although I can’t speak for my sponsors, I think they feel the same.

In Canada, sponsorship groups have supported more than 300,000 refugees over the past 40 years.

It’s a model that really benefits both the refugees and the communities that welcome them.

Read also: Beekeeper 'gutted' after yobs vandalise his hives

Now that coronavirus has shown us that we can work together for a common good, I hope more communities in the UK will band together to welcome a refugee family this way.

Like most fulfilling projects, it does take time and energy to become a community sponsor – there’s training to do, and you need to have an application approved by the Home Office.

All this can take around a year.

But the great thing is that you can start this all online so that you’re ready to welcome a family as soon as flights resume.

So I urge anyone looking for a way to make their next year more meaningful to consider becoming a sponsor.

To find out more about community sponsorship and how you can change your life as well as that of a refugee family, visit resetuk.org.

Reset is the UK's community sponsorship training, support and advice provider.

It prepares ordinary people across the UK to resettle refugees in their local areas by providing high quality training, workshops and resources.