Your Stories

ARKH (Asylum Seekers and Refugees of Kingston Upon Hull) LTD is a voluntary organisation and a registered charity that has been working in Hull since 2000.

Many of the refugees that ARKH help arrive in the city from the Congo, Somalia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and China and have a variety of problems.

In November 2006 the Befriending Project was set up to help their members enjoy life in Hull. The project works by matching volunteers to refugees and has been very successful with over 40 matches being made.

Gloria Ho is the Befriending Project coordinator, "Most referrals are women or young people who are relatively new to the city. Their social group is just people in their community, they don't meet anybody outside."

Volunteers are encouraged to take their new friends out to experience new activities (ice skating, for example), which may seem normal to us, but could be a whole new experience them. And it's not just refugees who can take something away from the befriending project, volunteers can also learn more about different cultures and, of course, meet new people.

Students, teachers, health care workers, retired people and even refugees themselves have signed up to the project so far. Those who are interested in volunteering are expected to commit a couple of hours per week for around 3 months.

Gloria is always looking for new members who are enthusiastic, encouraging and supportive and explained what it takes to be a befriending volunteer, "The skills are, you're culturally sensitive, you're non judgemental. Most people they come here, they want to help. They want to help give a little bit to someone else."

Through the Home Office Challenge Fund the project was able to employ a councillor and the befriending project coordinator, however the funding for these two posts runs out in March. Gloria hopes that they will be able to secure funding from elsewhere, so that the Befriending Project can continue.

If you are interested in taking part in the project you can contact ARKH on 01482 214178.

Kunbi joined the Befriending Project in 2007:

"At the beginning, I volunteered as an English language tutor. My main duty was to teach English language to women (mainly from Kurdistan and Congo) who were refugees in the United Kingdom. I decided to combine both the English classes and the befriending project."

"The main reason I decided to take part in the befriending project was to help the asylum seekers adjust to the British culture. Being from a third world country, I was excited to work with asylum seekers and refugees. It might be quite challenging being in a country outside one’s home country. It is more challenging being a refugee in another country. My heart really felt for these people and I wanted to share my experiences with them. I found out about ARKH from the student union at the University of Hull."

"When I joined the befriending project, my only expectation was that I would influence at least one person. I wanted to make someone happy. I feel fulfilled every time I see the smiles on the face of my ‘new friend’. She has no other friends apart from her immediate family."

"My friend is a refugee from Congo. When I was paired up with her, I was quite nervous. She barely understands English and quite younger than me. I thought the first meeting with her might be awkward. On the contrary, we had so much fun. We went shopping at St Stephens Shopping Centre. We finally ended up at Nandos for a nice chat. Hearing her story made me even more convinced that this was the right job I wanted to do."

" My heart felt for her and all other refugees who are lonely, depressed and poor. She told me about the times in the Refugee camp in Zambia and how they were transferred to the UK. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip because it gave my ‘friend’ to be herself. Seeing her so happy made all the stress of volunteering worthwhile."