Members from the Kildare College Chai & Chat Team, the Vinnies Group and the J&D Team took part in a justice activity and volunteered at the Mercy House of Welcome.
The Mercy House of Welcome is a safe place for asylum seekers to come together to learn English, receive legal assistance, be involved in a community garden and to support one another. Most people who access this service, do not have any legal rights, welfare support or the right to work as they wait for an outcome of their protection visa. This process takes an extremely long time and impacts their mental and physical health greatly.
We started off our day by helping asylum seekers learn English in the Mercy House of Welcome, followed by some gardening in their community garden. We then went off to a nearby primary school called St Brigid’s Primary, which has many students from a refugee background who do not have members of their family who speak English. These children are not able to read to a parent or be read to. Many of these children have experienced trauma. We split off into smaller groups to help the kids with their reading. They picked out some books for us to read to them and then we went back to their classroom to help them research their new assignment. The students were just as sad to see us go as we were.
Following this, we went to the school’s community hub which offers support to Mothers from the school. The main goal is to build connections, share common interests and to empower these women. The hub offers things like playgroups, sewing classes, English lessons, gardening, child-care, supporting the women to look for work or study, along with focusing on their wellbeing.
No matter where we went that day, we always saw a strong sense of community, belonging and caring.
Emma Lewis
Chaplain