54
Donors
0
Team Fundraisers
This year I have decided to run the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for the Injera Club, a weekly youth club based in South London for teenage asylum-seekers from Eritrea and Ethiopia, where I have been volunteering since September.
Life in the UK can be immensely difficult for young asylum-seekers arriving here without parents or other family. Young people need to adapt to a new culture, while navigating a very complex asylum process at the same time as processing the loss and trauma many of them have experienced on their journeys.
The Injera Club was set up in 2018 by the British-Eritrean community in direct response to three teenage asylum-seekers tragically taking their own lives. Several others have been sectioned and brought into psychiatric care.
With the aim of promoting positive mental health and well-being for refugees, the Injera Club is a youth club which hosts 20-40 young people each week. Over the course of an evening the group can enjoy home-cooked Eritrean food, socialize with others who have shared their experience, talk about their difficulties, or simply relax, hang out and play games.
Having had the privilege of working with these young people over the last couple of months, I often ask what is the thing that they most look forward to. The answer is invariably the opportunity to escape the hubbub of London.
In the past some have had the opportunity to attend country retreats, with focus on group healing and nature therapy. These trips have created special memories and bonds of friendship which help sustain them through challenging times.
As a result, I have decided to run the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for just such a trip. The more we raise, the more ambitious we can be in our planning and the more young people we can take along, covering the cost of minibus hire, food, camping gear and other essentials.
Let's raise this money and create a wonderful experience for these deserving young people!
Geordie x
Life in the UK can be immensely difficult for young asylum-seekers arriving here without parents or other family. Young people need to adapt to a new culture, while navigating a very complex asylum process at the same time as processing the loss and trauma many of them have experienced on their journeys.
The Injera Club was set up in 2018 by the British-Eritrean community in direct response to three teenage asylum-seekers tragically taking their own lives. Several others have been sectioned and brought into psychiatric care.
With the aim of promoting positive mental health and well-being for refugees, the Injera Club is a youth club which hosts 20-40 young people each week. Over the course of an evening the group can enjoy home-cooked Eritrean food, socialize with others who have shared their experience, talk about their difficulties, or simply relax, hang out and play games.
Having had the privilege of working with these young people over the last couple of months, I often ask what is the thing that they most look forward to. The answer is invariably the opportunity to escape the hubbub of London.
In the past some have had the opportunity to attend country retreats, with focus on group healing and nature therapy. These trips have created special memories and bonds of friendship which help sustain them through challenging times.
As a result, I have decided to run the Edinburgh Marathon to raise money for just such a trip. The more we raise, the more ambitious we can be in our planning and the more young people we can take along, covering the cost of minibus hire, food, camping gear and other essentials.
Let's raise this money and create a wonderful experience for these deserving young people!
Geordie x
