Journalist and photographer Sean Hawkey has just returned from one month with the Honduran 'Migrant Caravan'. This is a moving, intimate account of travelling with people who had no choice other than to take huge risks migrating north. With detailed, first hand knowledge of Honduras and the Honduran people, Sean talks about what has driven these people to head north, who they are and what their prospects are now.  The drivers are a combination of climate change, extreme poverty, shocking...

Samira Harnish founded Women of the World and her work was recognised by the UNHCR when she won the Nansen Award for the Americas this year. She helps displaced women to become self-reliant. They offer an individual customised service for every woman to help them deal with different government bodies, to get into work and to help with practical English. We talk about this fantastic service she runs from Salt Lake City, the many obstacles she has to overcome, and how the situation for...

Mohammed Nour talks movingly to co-founder John about his journey from the tragedy of Aleppo, dealing with smugglers to get into Greece with his family, being stuck in a camp for nearly 2 years until finally getting a chance to realise his dreams in Switzerland. We met Mohammed Nour, now aged 22, and his inspirational family in Alexandreia  camp in Greece and theirs is a story of extreme loss and hardship, strength and resilience.  He talks about the traumatic events that forced them to...

In this week's special podcast, we follow up with writer Dina Nayeri after her visit to two of the camps where we work. She wrote movingly about her visit in the Guardian. As a child refugee herself, there were many parallels with her childhood experience, and it came with many bitter-sweet moments. Dina and Paul talk about the humanity that shines through adversity, about what it means to be a refugee and the the current political situation.  Dina's new book The Ungrateful Refugee, some of...

Joy Stacey of Brighton-based Silat Network is setting up a service to offer training and mentoring to students in refugee communities so that they can access universtiy education abroad.  There are plenty of scholarships and university places available but how to find these, how to apply and how to be successful is not well known outside of the UK and US. Of course there are private companies that can help with that - for a fee - but Silat Network will be offering it for free to refugees in...

One of our trustees, Rana, talks about the people she is helping us to support with our new Business Fund for refugees at Katsikas camp. The Business Fund is the next step in our model to bring dignity and normality to people stuck in refugee camps. It has been an inspiring weekend and a huge privilege to help people with their plans to improve their living standards and, importantly, to gain some independence. The concept of the Business Fund is simple. One month ago we asked people on the...

Over the last 2 years in Cameroon, conflict between the Franch speaking government forces and the English speaking separatist movement has led to huge numbers of internally displaced people and refugees fleeing to Nigeria. We talk to activist Nkengafrica Ernest, Constituent President of the Cameroon National Youth Council and of the African Patriotic Youth Council Movement, who is calling for everyone to raise awareness of the crisis. It has gone largely unreported in the press and it needs...

On our recent tour to the US we spoke at a United Tastes of America event in Montclair NJ and were inspired by what the two founders - Melina and Kate - have achieved by bringing people together over food. Their motto is something we'd love to see more of right now: Breaking Bread, Building Bridges. In this podcast we speak to founder Melina Macall who, together with her friend Kate, was so appalled at the public hostility of their state governor to Syrian refugees in 2015 that they had to...

Today is the final date in our US tour speaking to supporters about what is possible when people help people and what the latest situation is facing refugees in Europe right now.  This talk is by Paul speaking at the Bnai Keshet Synagogue in Montclair New Jersey, at the invitation of Melina of the United Tastes of America. She will be talking on next week's podcast about how she and her friend Kate are bringing communities together with food. Each talk has been different but this one covers...

Sharon started helping refugees on the Balkan route in 2015 with emergency support, but got frustrated with the duplication and the waste. It was clear to her that what refugees really needed was reliable and timely information about their legal rights and the asylum process. And so she created Refucomm and that’s when her journey began to get great information into their hands. Printed documents didn’t reach enough because of literacy problems. Websites and video depended on limited...

Christa came to Greece in 2015 to do what she could for refugees, like so many of us after seeing the body of Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish shore. She has made several humanitarian trips to Greece with our friends Carry the Future and Allied Aid. We were also lucky to her along as one of our walkers retracing the refugee route this month before she travelled on to volunteer on the island of Chios. We talk about the poignancy of that walk, the enjoyment of being a volunteer and the...

We worked closely with our good friend Zoe when she was the UNHCR Officer at Alexandreia refugee camp but she was supporting refugees as a volunteer 18 months before that. She was part of the very first response at Idomeni. As 19 Refugee Support volunteers begin their week long walk to re-trace the refugee route from Idomeni to Skopje, Zoe talks about how she witnessed the border at Idomeni go from some empty fields in early 2015 to the largest sprawling camps in Europe 12 months later,...

With borders closing across Europe, refugees arriving were getting trapped in the southern states of Greece and Italy. The political solution to this was the EU statement of 20 March 2016 to slow the arrival of refugees from Turkey. Two years on we discuss this statement, often referred to as the EU-Turkey deal, with Claudia Bonamini, policy and advocacy officer of the Jesuit Refugee Service. Claudia wrote about the 2 year anniversary of the policy here. There are a number of elements to...

Ingrid started supporting refugees in the Calais jungle in 2015 and went on to do much more, now hosting 4 refugees in her own home. Giving refugees a place to stay is obviously important but it also means they get essential support to access all local services and integrate into their new country. It can be hard work and you need to find the right balance, but it is very rewarding getting to know the people who have made extraordinary journeys, to see them succeed as they rebuild their...

The Sanctuary organisation is a national volunteer movement devoted to offering a welcome and safety for people fleeing violence and persecution. In Brighton, that is the very active Sanctuary on Sea, chaired by Richard Williams, where they: – Focus on creating welcoming environments in school – Find accommodation for refugees coming under the Syrian vulnerable persons scheme – Support other refugee-related organisations in Brighton – Organise meetings and cultural events, especially as...

Bea Shrewsbury volunteered on a camp last year and it changed her life. She’s now a trustee, serial volunteer and champion fundraiser. Her inspirational mother came to England as part of the kindertransport from Germany just before WWII and Bea wrote about that here and what a great thing that was. With Help Refugees once again taking the UK govt to court to get them to fulfil their obligations under Dubs to take in unaccompanied child refugees from Europe, now seems a more heartless...

Tracey Samuel runs bonniemob, a Brighton-based family business that designs and sells kids clothes around the world. Upset at the plight of the refugees in 2016 and keen to do something she decided to help Refugee Support by doing what she does best – designing and selling clothes. Working with Selfish Mother, she created a charity collection that has raised almost £10,000 for refugees! (There are still some available and they make great gifts…). bonniemob is now working on another range for...

In 2015, Ros was working in TV and volunteering at her Synagogue’s refugee support group, when the facebook event she set up quickly became a huge demonstration with 100,000 people. From there, Solidarity with Refugees was born which Ros now leads. This is an inspirational story about what happen both personally and nationally when something you organise suddenly becomes massive. Solidarty with Refugees is now supporting other grassroots refugee groups and getting the solidarity message out...

For this week’s podcast, Paul spoke to Tasha Freidus, the founder and creator of NeedsList. We’ve been working with Tasha for about a year now, and Tasha has been a big supporter of our work during this time. NeedsList in as online marketplace that unites humanitarian organisations with donors – listing what organisations need so that donors who want to help can donate to urgent, real-time causes. It’s a great and transparent way of showing donors who they are helping, and what their...

Brighton-based Steve started Refugee Radio 10 years to create an arts programme with refugees but it quickly morphed into a mental health support service. Steve talks about this critical servce, but also in the context of the last decade working with refugees and the UK bureaucracy. Although the UK and Europe are still reluctant to resettle and support refugees, attitudes have improved. Although we’ve seen a right wing backlash over the last 2 years, it was a lot worse. Seeing pictures of...

Meerfez is 25 and lives in Filippiada camp with his wife. Left with no choice and under tragic circumstances, he left Afghanistan in 2015 and is trying to reach his brother in Germany. With great calm and dignity, Meerfez describes an epic journey but frustration at being held in Greece while his brother, who is just 17, is struggling in Germany on his own. Living conditions in Filippiada are quite good, and much better than on the islands, but he wants his whole family to be together. And...

Austin is aged 20 from the USA and Sue is 68 from the UK, but they are both united by a desire to put others first. They are fantastic volunteers who have given up their time and energy to help refugees in Greece and do the important job of co-ordinating our other volunteers’ activities on the camps. They talk about what motivated them to come and to come back (5 times in Sue’s case!), what they like about the job and what is tough. Volunteering with the right attitude is extremely...

Mimi started helping refugees in Europe two years ago and in that time she and her organisation Soup & Socks have had to adapt and change what they do. They started with a community kitchen on camp that got shut down by the army so they evolved their project into something more sustainable. This is where Habibi Works was born. We think it is the best volunteer-run project in Greece. It is a fantastic case study in learning, trying new things and creating something truly special. At the...

For this week’s podcast, we welcomed Dina Nayeri to the microphone for one of our most animated and illuminating podcasts yet. Author, teacher, child refugee and good friend of Refugee Support, Dina and Paul discuss the weight of the ‘debt’ and gratitude often attached to refugees who attain asylum; and how we can lighten this burden through dignified, respectful, and catch free aid. A delight to talk to, Dina – who recently published a controversial article in the Guardian, The ungrateful...