This week we met Holly, the President of STAR, to talk about the volunteering projects the charity is running to help improve the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in Bristol.
What is STAR?
STAR (short for Student Action for Refugees) is a student-led charity that works to improve the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. Nationally, STAR has over 26,000 members at over 35 different universities. Each group is involved in volunteering at local refugee projects as well as fundraising and campaigning.
Who can get involved?
Anyone who wants to! As well as our great volunteering projects, we hold loads of events throughout the year which are open to all.
What kind of things are you running at the moment?
We currently have three volunteering projects running: a homework club, a mentoring scheme and a reading group. All three involve working with children from refugee backgrounds within Bristol, providing both emotional and academic support to ensure the children have all the skills they need to do well in school and into their adult lives.
What is the homework club all about?
The homework club is the most flexible of our volunteering projects. It runs twice a week (Wednesdays and Saturdays) in the Somali Resource Centre in Easton, which is only a 10-minute train journey from Clifton Down or 15 minutes by bus from the city centre. The sessions last about two hours, and involve the volunteers helping the children with their school work and any other problems they might have. The club is hugely important as it provides the additional support that the children, due to language barriers and other issues, often lack at home. The parents are always incredibly grateful that we can help in ways they might not be able to – like all parents they just want what’s best for their kids. Volunteers are welcome to attend sessions whenever they can, even if that’s only once a month. All that’s needed is a valid DBS check, which can be picked up from the Student Union. Check out the Bristol STAR Facebook page for the weekly sign-up sheet!
If you have any other questions about the homework club or any other STAR volunteer projects, please feel free to get in touch:
STAR website: http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/
Bristol STAR Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BristolSTAR/
Email address: bristolstar@outlook.com