Restore Supporting Refugees From Across The Globe Here In Birmingham - Jeremy Thompson

Imagine…….. You’ve got to the point where you no longer feel safe in your country and have no protection under the laws of that country. A relative has been picked up by the military in the middle of the night. You don’t know where they’ve been taken, your family fear that you would be next and send you across the border to safety. You have an old university friend who is studying for a Master’s degree in the UK and you don’t have any other friends or family outside of your country. You’ve worked as an English teacher in your hometown. The UK seems the obvious choice. You arrive in the UK and say you are a refugee needing protection. You are interviewed by officials and taken to a rundown hotel where you’re put in a room with someone from another country you’ve never met before who doesn’t speak your language or much English. But with the little English your roommate has, they try to be friendly. Since you arrived at the hotel you’ve seen people opposite the hotel waving flags, holding placards saying “Close the hotel” and shouting ‘Go home’. You’d love to go home to all that is familiar but home isn’t safe anymore and you wonder what kind of a country you’ve come to. All you have done is exercise your right under the UN Convention of Refugees (drawn up and signed in 1951 after the atrocities of World War 2) to claim protection as a refugee. You are labelled as an asylum seeker and have to go through a process of proving that you are entitled to refugee status. And what will happen to you now? All you want is to feel safe but will you be believed and even if you are believed, is it safe in the UK? Are you welcome here?

Sadly, that scenario and those feelings are the reality for people in our city.

The environment they live in here in the UK seems focused on hostile political rhetoric and negative media coverage both of which can be laced with misinformation. But if that is all the public hear, then is it surprising that there is such a fearful view of those fleeing war and persecution and seeking sanctuary?

Restore’s vision is for a society into which all refugees and asylum seekers are welcomed, valued and integrated.

Restore’s motivation is based on biblical principles of seeking justice for the oppressed, welcoming the stranger and loving our neighbour. It is increasingly counter-cultural.

So what does Restore do? Our work is relational and we run a one-to-one befriending scheme and regular group social activities that bring people together to offer welcome and build community.

Our key aims are:

• reduced loneliness and isolation;

• friendships and social connections with people from Birmingham;

• improved conversational English ability;

• improved mood, wellbeing and mental health;

• increased understanding of life in Birmingham and the UK; and

• increased confidence.

What is the impact? One befriendee wrote: “I was dealing with a lot of stress because of the situation I have faced and what I have come through. I was able to share with my befriender which helped me to be more supported. We started running together every Saturday morning which was good for me.”

Another wrote, “You’ve offered something priceless: the feeling of being welcomed. You have helped turn strangers into neighbours and new arrivals into community members, reminding us what real compassion looks like. Thank you for helping people not only survive but belong.”

A volunteer wrote, “She shared lots of heartache and worry about her family. It has been sobering to understand what she has endured because of war, and she is deeply grateful to people in the UK for giving her a peaceful home.”

This 3.5-minute video gives an overview of that work and service users and volunteers share the impact its had for them.

How can you pray?

To function Restore needs 3 elements:

• newly referred refugees and asylum seekers,

• volunteer befrienders; and

• funding.

Our current challenges are more volunteers and adequate funding. We aim to make 50 new befriending relationships a year and support 100 ongoing befriending pairings. So far this year, we’ve made 26 new matches (with another 8 due to start shortly) and have 106 ongoing befriending relationships. We are grateful for all our volunteers but we need more. Please pray that more people from our recent October training day will apply to become befrienders. 2025, has been the most challenging year financially since I became Manager in 2018. We are hugely grateful to St John’s for financial support for many years via MPS and Christmas collections (and through prayer too). To help to bridge our funding gap, a recent appeal to our supporters has brought in over £23,000 and that is our example of “immeasurably more”! Having had an unprecedented number of refusals from grant making trusts this year – please pray that we would be able to tap into Trusts or other funding streams willing to fund Restore’s work with refugees and asylum seekers.

For a shift in the political environment: For a just and compassionate asylum system that works for all; for an end to scapegoating those who are already marginalised (that includes refugees and asylum seekers; for more people to make a compassionate and welcoming response.

For me personally: As a family we continue to live with and be affected by my chronic migraine. I started an additional medication earlier in the year which has helped more than anything tried before. Whilst I am grateful for that improvement I am still limited in what I can do, in order to avoid migraine triggers. I am mainly working from home.

Thank you for your support of Restore and those we serve – your partnership with us is hugely appreciated.