We are a youth charity set up by members of the Eritrean community in London, in response to the tragic deaths of four teenage Eritrean asylum-seekers. We aim to promote the health and wellbeing of migrant young people through direct support, through empowerment, through building bridges in the Eritrean community and through advocating for changes to unfair and discriminatory systems which undermine wellbeing. We believe that building sustainable relationships of trust and support within the British-Eritrean community is the best way to empower young people and enable them to overcome their marginalisation within society. We currently run a weekly youth club and a bereavement and loss support group. In the future we would like to organise a mentoring and befriending service involving the wider British-Eritrean community.

Why the community needs us
We run a weekly youth club called Injera Club, in South London, where young Eritreans and Ethiopians (and their friends) can relax, play games, play sports, socialise and eat home-cooked Eritrean/Ethiopian food. From the youth club base, we work with young people to identify their support needs and respond to these accordingly. Integral to all this work is the focus on advocacy and enabling young people to advocate for themselves.

Our impact on the community
Injera Club was started in August 2018. Since then, we have slowly grown and we now have had between 30-50 young people attending Injera Club every week. We have run workshops, organised trips and participated in outreach. We often refer young people to other services (such as casework support, legal support and counselling) when the need arises.