Nasc, Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre holding event for people hosting refugees in their homes
On the evening of Thursday 14th July 2022, Nasc, the Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre are holding an event for members of the public who are currently hosting, or who are considering hosting, refugees in their homes. The event will take place in person in St Peter’s on North Main Street and is part of a series of nationwide events being organised jointly by Nasc, Doras and the Irish Refugee Council.
Hosting refugees in family homes is one of Ireland’s responses to the refugees arriving in Ireland. To date, almost 40,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Ireland and thousands are now living in family homes in communities across Ireland. Before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, hundreds of Afghan refugees found homes in Irish communities.
Majo Rivas, Nasc’s Community Sponsorship Manager states, “In the past year the Irish public have opened their homes and hearts in response to humanitarian crises. Just over a year ago, communities across Ireland sprang into action to provide homes for Afghan refugees. At the time, it was impossible to foresee that a war in Ukraine would displace millions of refugees throughout Europe and thousands of Ukrainian refugees would be hosted in families across Ireland.”
Thursday’s event will include speakers from refugee communities as well as those with experience of hosting. There will be an opportunity to meet other hosts and to share information. Staff from Nasc, Doras and the Irish Refugee Council will be on hand to answer practical questions. The topics covered on the evening will include:
• Important things to know as a host
• Relationships and what to expect
• Information on services and supports available to hosts and guests
• Good practice, challenges and gaps in hosting of refugees.
• An opportunity to meet other hosts
Ms Rivas continues, “For many when they heard about the war in Ukraine or the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, their instinctive response was ‘How can I help?’ and this included opening their homes to refugees. All of this was done so quickly that many families may not be aware of the supports available to them. We want to ensure that they know that they can come to their Regional Support Organisation for information and advice. I’d urge anyone who is hosting or who is considering hosting to register to attend Thursday’s event. There is a huge amount of expertise from the Community Sponsorship programme that is very relevant to hosting. Nasc also has over twenty years of experience working with refugees who have escaped war. We know that people who have witnessed atrocities or lived through war are very likely to be experiencing trauma. There are really important conversations to be had about how to support a person living in your home who has experienced trauma and how to ensure you look after your own self-care. We’d like to see these series of events as a way to start having some of these important conversations.”
Advance registration for the event is essential as places are limited. The link to register is available here.
ENDS
Media Contact: Majo Rivas, Community Sponsorship Manager
Mob: 0872249770
Notes
1. The ‘Hosting Refugees in the Community’ event will be held on Thursday 14th July at 18:30 at St. Peter’s on North Main Street.
2. There are four Regional Support Organisations with responsibility for developing and delivering community sponsorship in Ireland. The four organisations are Nasc, Doras, the Irish Refugee Council and the Irish Red Cross.
3. Community sponsorship was launched as a national programme in 2019. Communities can sponsor refugee families on resettlement lists to come to Ireland. The community sponsorship group receives training from their local Regional Support Organisation to prepare for the family’s arrival and to provide integration supports after arrival. To date, community sponsorship beneficiaries have primarily been Syrian refugees.
