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Refugee Communities

How Big is Your Society? An asylum-seekers and refugees perspective

An address to Refugee Community Organisations Forum Networking Event, 16th December, 2011 -

Presented by: Ratna Lachman, JUST West Yorkshire.

Thank you for inviting me to address today’s meeting. I have been asked to give my assessment of the Big Society from the perspective of asylum seekers and refugees in the region. I would like to start off my address with sharing an encounter I had two days ago with an asylum seeker from Pakistan who was referred to my organisation as a potential volunteer. She was forced to escape from Pakistan leaving her children and family because there were threats to her life after her affair with another woman became known. Since coming to the UK to seek refuge, she has spent 8 years within the asylum system and is awaiting deportation.

RCO Networking Event 2011

The 2011 NRC annual Regional Networking event for refugee communities took place on 16th December. It was hosted in Doncaster and organised by Jeni Vine, Radmilla Fortune-West and the NRC team of volunteers in Doncaster. Representatives from various organisations across the region attended. Ratna Lachman of Just West Yorkshire was the keynote speaker.

Networking Event