How can we help refugees in Scotland feel human again?

Asking for refuge can be a traumatising thing because people asking for refuge most of the time are running for their lives and have had to face difficult situations such as war, torture, rape before reaching a peaceful place. In other words some of them have lost their humanity and have forgotten what love means, what understanding means, what trust means, what support means, what being listen to and being valued means, what being safe and secure means. 

French and German governments are supporting people coming from Syria and other parts of the wold by placing them in centres where they will be registered and where they status will be decided. Other organisations and people are collecting goods, foods, and clothes to support people at Calais. We could collect goods, foods and clothes as well to support people at Calais. In addition, when refugees reach Glasgow, we could for example invite them to join groups where they can be listen to in term of sharing they experiences, telling they needs, they hope. 

This would be a place where people can be loved, supported and understood by local people and people who have had the same experience and have been able to cope; in other words this would be a way to support people seeking refuge to relearn how to be Human and interact with people without fear. This space would also be a place to show how people here are welcoming and friendly, this would help them feel secure and safe as it is what people seeking refuge are looking for.

Written by Aimee

Society is an Elite Club that Bars the Poor

Pity and blame are the words going round my head today. An election campaign which blamed people on benefits and pitied those compelled to use foodbanks on more than one million occasions in the last year has resulted in a new government who tell us that cuts must be made in the name of "people who do the right thing", whoever they are.

They are definitely not people in poverty, who are referred to as scroungers and cheats, as somehow lacking. We are encouraged to stereotype and see people in poverty as part of the problem, not part of the solution. Such divisions have made it easier to suggest that we need a government who believe the poor should pay for the deficit rather than the rich. And such a government we have.

Pity and blame – it’s easy to do both from the outside. Where are the voices of those who understand poverty from the inside, who know what it means to have to choose between putting money in the gas meter or having breakfast in the morning? By ignoring these voices, we are missing out on a wealth of wisdom.

At the Poverty Truth Commission we believe people with experience of poverty are the experts who must be at the heart of any strategy designed to overcome poverty. Before the election we called on the government, media, political parties and each one of us to stop the culture of blame in this election campaign and in the future. We challenged everyone to seek and to listen to the voices of our poorest citizens as a crucial first step to overcoming poverty and figuring out how to build a better society.

Following last week’s election, I spoke to some of our commissioners.

“I’m even more frightened about the cuts now,” said one carer. “I’m dreading the postman coming with forms to fill in that might mean cuts to my Carers Allowance. Things will get so much tougher for my community.”

Another said: “Thousands of disabled people will suffer from the results of these changes, putting them at real risk of deterioration and open to sanctions.”

And a third added: “The divide that is already there is going to increase. People are going to be pushed further apart. The focus is on those who have money, it feels like an elite club we are kept out of.”

Pity and blame are not the only words going round my head today. There is also the Poverty Truth Commission motto: “Nothing about us, Without us, Is for us.

Nothing About Us, Without Us, Is For Us

During this General Election Campaign we have heard people living in poverty referred to as scroungers and cheats, and it has been inferred that they are not from, or are somehow fundamentally different from, ‘hard-working families’.  We have also heard that in the UK, one of the richest countries in the world, people were compelled by poverty to use food banks on more than one million occasions in the last year.

Rarely have we heard from people who actually understand poverty, who know what it means to have to choose between putting money in the gas meter or having breakfast in the morning.  We are encouraged to stereotype in one way or another; to blame or to pity - to see people as part of the problem rather than as part of the solution. We are missing out on a wealth of wisdom. It does not have to be this way.

At the Poverty Truth Commission we work differently.  We believe that people experiencing poverty must be at the heart of any strategy designed to overcome it.  We believe that we must listen to and respect each others’ opinions.  That we must take the time to learn what it is like to walk in each other’s shoes.  And that is what we do.  As a Commission we have left our labels and titles at the door and are discovering what it means to say together that nothing about us, without us, is for us.

Therefore, we call on government, the media, political parties and each one of us to stop the culture of blame in this election campaign and in the future.  We challenge you to seek, and to listen to the voices of our poorest citizens as a crucial first step to overcoming poverty and figuring out how to build a better society.

Growing food justice now!

Beyond Food banks Conference 28 February 2015

 

This conference took place in the iconic Pearce Institute in Govan, Glasgow. It was organised by the Church of Scotland, Faith in Community Scotland and the Centre for Human Ecology. They brought together a large number and wide range of people united in their desire to ensure Scotland can change from a situation in which real hunger is suffered, to a situation in which everybody has access to sufficient, nutritious food.
  

We heard Rachel Gray from Toronto, Canada speak eloquently about the ways that the Stop project (launched 35 years ago) has developed from an initial food bank type service into a community in which the provision and sharing of food is a means to reduce social isolation and foster long term relationships. We also anonymously heard from the experiences of two food bank users. One of the  food bank users, who is in part-time employment, reported  ".... I am still using the Food bank now because my housing benefit was stopped....” Security of housing is so crucial for us all and yet it  can be so insecure for those whose benefits are suddenly stopped.

Another food bank user reported her experience of having no employment and her benefit being reduced to just £57 a week while her Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was reviewed. At this time, after all her bills were paid, she was left with only £7 per week to feed her family of three; she could not do it on such a small amount of money and had to accept referral to a food bank. She said, "I was very reluctant to use the food bank. I would rather have gone without food than use one, but I had to think of my family. I felt ashamed and very upset that my financial situation had sunk so low. I was very depressed which had a big impact on both my physical and mental health."

However as one person commented the real shame is the UK's for creating the economic and social conditions conditions in which food banks flourish; those who use food banks have nothing to be ashamed of. 


It was a stimulating day indeed that got participants thinking and more importantly committing to ideas and actions to combat food poverty and to stop food banks being  accepted as part and parcel of the welfare system. Different ways of fighting food poverty were explored. For example, participants heard about the experience of food co-ops in North Lanarkshire and a prospective community food centre in Ruchazie. Using a variety of such approaches and others, for instance, campaigning work around the General Election, could enable the growth of this emerging food justice movement. Beyond Food Banks successfully marked the beginning and definitely not the end of this process. As a demonstration of this a follow up event  will look at concrete actions or pilot projects etc., so please keep a look out for details.

My Story - part 8

I don’t feel like a strong person.  I’m using food banks and stuff the now and gambling. I want to be strong but I’m not yet, there’s a long way to go.  It’s a long slow road, but it’s a road, not a stop.

I get £104 a fortnight to live off.  Crisis loan repayments and Council Tax comes off that first.  Then £30 to the hostel.  £40 for messages.  I will have to start paying back my old rent arrears if I want a new flat with the Housing Association.  I have very little left at the end of it.  It’s hard to cope.  Even though I get my Housing Benefit, it’s hard times.  Everything is money.  Everything.  And everything is going up apart from what you’ve got in your pocket.  

Sometimes I end up going back the Bookies because I’m desperate to make my money stretch a bit further.  I used to gamble a lot in the past.  It gets a hook in you; it’s like control in the head.  Sometimes it’s like it’s just whispering to you.  But you can never beat a bookie, no matter how hard you try.

They push you and push you at the Job Centre. I’m always worried I’m going to trip up and get sanctioned.  Every time I go in there it’s a worry.

One of our Commissioners gives us a privileged insight into their life. They give us the good and they give us the bad. The story helps us understand poverty a little better. Here is part 8.

I feel trapped because I’m living in a hostel, and if I took a job and lost my Housing Benefit, I wouldn’t be able to pay the hostel.  It would be too hard.  But they don’t listen to me at the Job Centre, I’m just another number. I really want to work, but I don’t know how, and it feels like they’re choking to sanction me.

At times I feel socially excluded out of everything.  I feel like people look down on me because of the way I look, the way I dress.  I start to think in my head that I’m a waste of space.  I might look homeless, but there’s still good inside of me.  Don’t insult my intelligence.  I don’t want people to pity and patronise me when I walk down the street.  I am still a human being.  Every time I get up, get a shower in the morning, get ready, go out, every day is a battle.  Sometimes it really affects my mental health.  But I know there will be low days and try to keep going.

I try not to use food banks because they make me feel worse.  They make me feel low, ashamed, it shows I’m struggling, it feels like another judgement.  I know they’re there to help people, but that’s how they make me feel.  Sometimes I have no option though.

I’m much more than someone who is struggling with money, mental health and homelessness.  I am a singer, an actor, a striver.  My strength is being with people, building relationships, and supporting them.  I know what it is like to be alone and isolated.  

I volunteer with Bridging the Gap in the Gorbals.   I feel happy when I go there. They are amazing.  Every time I go in there it’s always a positive and something I’m good - I can be somebody.

And now I am part of the Poverty Truth Commission too.  I want to help change things.  Actions are better than words.  We all need to take a stand together, and I want to be a part of that change.

The most important thing I’ve learnt about myself is to never give up on yourself.  If you give up on yourself, what chance have you got?  

My Story - part 7

One of our Commissioners gives us a privileged insight into their life. They give us the good and they give us the bad. The story helps us understand poverty a little better. Here is part 7.

There hasn’t really been one turning point for me, because my life journey has been so rocky.  It’s been an unsteady road.  That’s the way it’s always been really, so many uneven roads.  

I started going along to the Lodging House Mission.  It’s a Day Centre for people with homelessness needs and stuff.  I went there for the cheap food, just to eat, but I wanted something more so I started getting involved in things.  I got involved in the choir they ran.  It was good - I grew to love singing.  

Scottish Opera ran a project with the Lodging House Mission, and I got my first lead role in their production - “Who Killed John King?”  We ended up performing it at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.  Who would ever have thought that I would be performing with the Scottish Opera at the Royal Opera House.  

Our play was 8 minutes long and there were other groups there from all over the world, all of us experiencing homelessness.  We got a standing ovation at the end of our piece.  I’ll never forget that.  It was a beautiful experience.  Our play was about two families and a gangland war.  I felt like I was going to be sick from nerves, heavy nervous before I went on - but I done it and it was good.  I still can’t believe I done that.  People dream of that sort of thing.

                                                                  

That’s when I got my first taste of acting, and I wanted to continue.  My heart is in singing and acting and I would love to be able to make a career out of them.

That gave me the confidence to go to college.  I did Sound Production, and the music side of stuff. I get to work on my own music. It’s amazing and has given me something that I like doing - singing is a big part of my life.  Learning how to deal with sound, adding sound onto your music and adding wee beats and stuff, and its amazing the door it opens, its just amazing.  

I want to be an actor; I’ve made my mind up.  I’m doing a course in the Citizens Theatre now.  Cause that’s what I want to be.  Like being on stage because you can get to be whatever you want. And then you just leave it on the stage at the end.

But day to day life isn’t easy.  I’m still running that race like when I was fifteen, but now there are lots of hurdles in the way too and people trying to pull you back. It’s a long road but I keep running in the race to win.  You want to beat the odds, you want to beat everything.  The finishing line is when you conquer everything, when you feel good in your head.  Instead of having all these worries about the DWP, sanctions, money and homelessness.  So you’re not going to be stressing, so your mind doesn’t play games with you - that’s all I want.  Poverty really affects your mental health, but I want to be strong, not back down the hole, not back in the slump.

Watch out for part 8, tomorrow...

My Story - part 6

One of our Commissioners gives us a privileged insight into their life. They give us the good and they give us the bad. The story helps us understand poverty a little better. Here is part 6.

I ended up in a fight but I can’t really remember very much about it.  I was outnumbered, surrounded by about 20 bodies around me - folk from another area.  I got that - the bottle - down my face.  The night is kind of blurry still, but I get flashbacks sometimes.  I went to hospital myself.  Ran up there and got my face stitched.  And I have to keep looking at that reminder in the mirror, that reminder of how stupid I was.

I went to stay with a friend for a while, and then got back into my mum’s - things were a bit more sorted out for me.  I tried to just stay in at night, not to fall back into my old ways, but then the boredom cut into me and I got back into the wee circle again. The downward spiral again. If I didn’t get out I was going to get put in a box or in the jail.  And so I found myself homeless again.  

That time I went to the Hamish Allan Centre.  They sent me for a weekend to the Talbot, and then when the Monday came, they put me into Clyde Place.  I was there for 5 months.  And the after that I was moved into supported accommodation through the Simon Community.

Then at last I got a flat.  My first home of my own.  It was a three apartment in Tollcross.  They weren’t able to offer me anything smaller, and it was hard work to keep it up and to furnish it, but I loved my flat and it became like home.  My first home of my own.  It meant so much to me and I told myself I would never become homeless again.

Four years later when the bedroom tax came in I was hit with extra money for the spare room I hadn’t wanted in the first place.   I couldn’t afford to pay and got into debt and arrears.  Things spiralled, and I couldn’t cope.  It started to affect my mental health - I suffer from depression - and I wasn’t able to ask anyone for help. I didn’t have the energy. I just dragged me down and down and then I was evicted. I had to give up my nice home.

And here I am now, back in a hostel again.  I thought I would never go back.  I feel as if my life is going backwards instead of forwards.  But I’m not going to let it beat me. It’s a slow process, but I’m just going to keep my head held high.  I don’t want people feeling sorry for me.  I was doing so well.  Don’t say it’s a shame for me.

Watch out for part 7, on Monday...