Group's three-year mission to welcome refugee family

A community group is on the brink of reaching its fundraising target to resettle a refugee family in the UK.

Bristol's Brislington Welcome was set up by volunteers in response to the crisis in Afghanistan in 2021 following the withdrawal of US troops.

Catharine Hiley, 34, one of the group’s founders, said they wanted to do “something proactive” after seeing people fleeing the Taliban.

“It might not change the life of lots of people but it could change the life of one family, potentially forever, and it just felt like a good place to start,” she said.

She and friends came across the Home Office’s community sponsorship scheme, which allows civil society organisations, faith groups and charities be directly involved in the resettlement of refugees in the UK.

Sponsors not only provide funding, but also practical know-how on navigating a new culture so arrivals can find jobs and access healthcare and education.

Ms Hiley, who works within NHS care commissioning, said: “We put out feelers out in the Brislington community to see if anyone was interested in joining us and we found a group of local neighbours.”

The volunteers have agreed to support a refugee family for at least two years.

“In theory they should be able to support themselves after that,” Ms Hiley said.

Brislington Welcome has now raised £10,000 of its £11,000 target. Even after raising the funds, the group still need to find long-term accommodation before they can complete their sponsorship application.

The group is hosting a ceilidh on 23 November at Brislington United Reformed Church which should help them reach their funding target.

“I was a bit naive about the length of the project and how long it would take and how persistent we would have to be,” Ms Hiley said.

“The thing which has been a massive stumbling block is a house for them to live in,” Ms Hiley said.

“They would be on housing benefit, so we would be asking someone to let their property at below the asking price.”

Although Brislington Welcome was founded in response to the situation in Afghanistan, it is the Home Office that decides which family is placed where.

“It is often a family of high needs - and a family could be a group of related adults, and they could be from anywhere,” Ms Hiley said.

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