Women For Refugee Women

Next term, starting on Monday 10 Sept, we'll have space in our Mums and Toddlers group for asylum-seeking women to learn English alongside their young kids! If you know anyone with young children who'd like to join our welcoming and playful group please get in touch: admin@refugeewomen.co.uk / 020 7250 1239

Just one week left to apply to volunteer with us next term!
We're looking for support for our drop-in for refugee women, English teachers and assistants and a facilitator for our new group supporting women into employment.
Apply today!... http://www.refugeewomen.co.uk/work-or-vol unteer/
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'They punished my daughter, an innocent 2-year-old'. How the UK splits migrant families in pursuit of deportation targets. Inhumane and shocking.

We met Gabby while she was detained in Yarl’s Wood in 2017. She’s survived sexual abuse and trafficking so she should have never been there in the first place. Read her take on Shaw’s second review on vulnerable people in detention.
"In many ways, Shaw’s report is encouraging. He’s right that reducing the number of women locked up in detention centres has to be a priority. Detention is killing us. I was abused, but instead of getting help and support I was locked up. I deserv...e to be free and safe."
#SetHerFree
https://www.independent.co.uk/…/yarls-w ood-shaw-report-home…
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Stephen Shaw's follow up review into the welfare of vulnerable people in detention was published today. It found that vulnerable people, including survivors of rape and torture, are still being locked up.
The Home Office must stop detaining vulnerable women altogether #SetHerFree
Watch Sajid Javid introduce the review in Parliament today, and MPs responses: https://goo.gl/4pcFfU

We're looking for a Treasurer to join our Board of Trustees!
Please share this opportunity with anyone you know who has experience in charity finance and would like to use their skills to support our work with refugee women.
https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/…/trea surer-women-refugee-…

Our wonderful drama group will be sharing their poetry at this event exploring how art, music and theatre can advocate for social change and subvert existing systems. Join them next Sunday! https://www.facebook.com/events/170590175 9505054/ #AllWomenCount #SetHerFree

Thank you NoVo Foundation, Oak Foundation and Unbound Philanthropy for including us in this inspiring event with Emma Watson, Imkaan and Southall Black Sisters!
This is not a moment, this is a movement... #sisterhoodispowerful #MeToo #TimesUp
https://www.metooandphilanthropy.org/2018 -london/

We have lots of volunteering opportunities to work directly with refugee women in our network!
We're looking for English teachers and assistants, support for our drop-in and someone to facilitate our new Transitions group for women moving into employment.
Check out our website for more information: http://www.refugeewomen.co.uk/work-or-vol unteer/

New report from Refugee Action & Naccom Network exposes how drastic legal aid cuts are preventing people seeking asylum from accessing the support they need to make their case. https://tinyurl.com/y7wqs37c #StandUpForAsylum

Thank you so much to Margherita de Fraja who is running the Oxford half marathon for Women for Refugee Women! Please support her and share her page and make a difference to women seeking safety in the UK.

We spoke to Sian Norris about why refugee women are attending the #BringTheNoise demo tomorrow. Join us!
Sandra, a woman in our network, says “I must be there because I am a woman. Trump doesn’t respect women at all. But if all women stand together and defend their rights, we will be stronger.”
https://www.opendemocracy.net/…/why-wom en-march-sees-trump-…

Members of our Rainbow Sisters group share their experience of Pride and Black Pride last weekend...
Jocyline says, “I was so happy that people were supporting us as refugee women. We suffer so much with the Home Office, but everyone was cheering us. Even now, two days later, I am so comforted that people supported our message.”
http://www.refugeewomen.co.uk/rainbow-sis ters-pride/

We joined Freedom from Torture and other organisations to call on the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, to end the hostile asylum process and build a more humane approach. Every day we see how the Home Office's culture of disbelief traumatises women who have already experienced violence and horror.
#SetHerFree #AllWomenCount

Rainbow Sisters at #Pride2018. Love and solidarity to our LGBT+ sisters around the world. 🌈

Another busy Monday of activities, support & friendship for over 100 refugee and asylum-seeking women in our network. We're also conducting our annual grassroots evaluation, one woman said: 'It's like coming here has unlocked the door to my confidence!'
#AllWomenCount #SetHerFree

Photos from our drama group's informal showcase of their new performance poetry about female bodies.
What memories do our bodies hold? Who makes decisions about our bodies? Where does the bravery of saying no lead us?
... Huge thanks to everyone who came today and to Rebecca Laughton and all of the wonderful volunteers who helped to make this performance possible.
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The Home Office continues to indefinitely lock up survivors of sexual and gender-based violence who’ve sought asylum in the UK in detention centres like #YarlsWood. Detention makes people vulnerable, it traumatises and causes further harm. This must end now. #SetHerFree