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Kent has a high number of refugees and asylum seekers and an alarmingly high proportion of these are unaccompanied minors. There was concern about the lack of support available to these vulnerable young people on arrival. Age and language barriers often make it impossible for these people to enter mainstream education. A training course for young refugees and asylum seekers was set up to help provide practical solutions to help their integration within the local community. In the pilot phase, a group of teenage boys (including six Albanians and one Afghani) received training in a range of practical skills including how to use hand tools safely, stock fencing, hedge laying, access work (such as step creation), photography and Information Technology. Young people took part in practical sessions every Wednesday for 12 weeks. On many of these sessions, they worked alongside volunteers from the local community including other young people of school age. The success of the pilot has led to the development of a three-year project supported by the Camelot Foundation through their Transforming Lives scheme. The project is a partnership between Kent County Council (which supplies advice and translators), The Kent High Weald Project (a countryside management project which runs the practical tasks) and BTCV (which developed and delivers the training aspects of the project). In addition to the formal skills acquired by the young people, the project helps to introduce them to the new surroundings that they find themselves in, provides opportunities to work alongside members of the host community and reduces their feeling of isolation. It also gives them the opportunity to practice their English, and a space to chat through personal issues in an informal setting. The participants themselves provide clear evidence that the project is working. Some young people who have now left the centre have asked if they can continue to take part in the weekly sessions, others have asked if they can develop land at the centre to grow their own vegetables on the site. Staff at the reception centre confirmed that the young people have benefited from the experience and that participants often had their best night's sleep after the day's practical work. All content copyright © 1986-2008 BTCV Ltd. Registered charity No. 261009 |
