Supporting the First Group of Syrian Refugees
to Arrive in Belfast
The Diocesan Team working on the response to the Syrian refugee crisis have been liaising with officials at the Department of Social Development (DSD) to prepare for the arrival of the first group of refugees to come here under the official Westminster Government scheme.
DSD have now confirmed that this first group will arrive to Belfast, directly from the UN Camps in Lebanon and elsewhere, on Tuesday 15 December. The group will comprise 51 persons, in 10 family units. Almost half of the group will be children, ranging in age from 15 years to a few months.
The families will arrive first to a ‘Welcome Centre’ set up by the DSD. They will stay at this Centre for a few days during which they will receive information from a number of services and agencies. After this nine of the families will be moved to accommodation in North and West Belfast. One family will be placed in South Belfast. The families will be invited to choose schools for their children from the different sectors available, though for those housed in North and West Belfast Catholic schools are expected to be the nearest option, if this is what the parents choose.
All those working with the refugees have stressed the need to do all we can to build communities of welcome, understanding and care for those who will arrive. This includes letting parishioners across the Diocese know that refugees will soon be arriving among us and that they have been chosen by the United Nations working in the camps in Lebanon and elsewhere specifically because of the level of trauma, threat and persecution these particular families have endured. They will not even know where they are going to until they arrive in England and then come directly to us. We can only imagine the anxieties they will have about coming to an unfamiliar place without family or friends. They will have very few, if any possessions of their own.
The Diocese is working closely with the St Vincent De Paul Society to prepare for the arrival of the refugees. This will include providing pre-heating of the homes in which the refugees will be housed as well as other practical needs such as towels, blankets and so on. Your local SVDP Conference will be discreetly advised of the location of each family and will offer whatever help they can to them.
To date, the total collected from Parishes as part of the Diocesan Refugee Response initiative is just over £220,000 (two hundred and twenty thousand pounds). This represents an extraordinary level of generosity and is one of the highest amounts taken up in a single Diocesan Emergency appeal collection in recent years. The money has been used by SVDP and Trócaire to provide food and emergency aid directly to those fleeing war and persecution in Syria and Iraq. Part of the monies has also been used to build a vital food warehouse near one of the refugee camps. The Parish Hall in the Parish of St. Agnes, Belfast is being used by SVDP as a warehouse for clothes and other much needed items that are being shipped out on a regular basis. As winter approaches there is a particular need for warm clothing and blankets. Any Parishioners who wish to donate such items should bring them to their local De Paul shop.
The Diocese is also helping a Catholic family who fled Damascus and have arrived here seeking asylum outside of the Westminster Government Scheme. The parents have three children aged fourteen, eleven and six and our Catholic schools have been outstanding in welcoming them in to their midst and helping them feel safe, supported and cared for. Please pray that this family, who have been through so much, will be accepted under the normal asylum application process.
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