Refugees: the current issues - is there a solution?

Refugees: the current issues - is there a solution?

I was privileged to have been able to speak at the United Nations on the subject recently. The reality is that this is the worst refugee crisis since World War Two; actually, in regards of displacement and movement of people, it’s worse. According to UNHCR there are currently 59.5 million displaced people in the world at the moment.

In the UK there is a lot of anti-immigration press, telling us how many "illegal people" there are and the fact that they are taking jobs, school places, and homes. This has created a great deal of tension and distrust.  Many of the figures quoted are not true, and when you look at real figures from reliable sources you find that the story is very different.

There is another story too, that is not being talked about much and that is one that needs to be brought to Europe's attention. In Europe, UK, Germany, and Italy particularly, there is a need for young workers who pay tax. The reason being that in the UK and other European countries the indigenous populations are getting older.  Most of us have things like state pensions, paid from taxes.  When these were originally introduced with a male retirement age of 65 and female retirement age of 60, life expectancy was between 68 and 69, very different to today predictions. The current life expectancy in the UK is heading towards 100 years. Who is going to pay for all those retired people? Whose taxes will fund it? We need the refugees' help to do that.  Politicians don't have very much to say about this.

There is a lot of nonsense being spread around too, that the refugees are just economic migrants. Really? The millions from Syria are just after better jobs are they? I don't think so!

We also talk about how many are coming to Europe, but in real terms it is only a small percentage of those displaced. In fact, in 2014 the UK took in 31,945 refugees compared with, say, Turkey's 1. 8 million, or the 600,00 in Jordan. Tiny Lebanon, with a population of just 4 million of its own people, took in 1 million refugees. We need to be talking about the millions in places like Jordan, the overwhelming number in Lebanon and the massive camps in Turkey.  Some politicians tell us, "We are doing our fair share; we are taking a big slice of the cake." Are we?

We also need to be asking the questions as to why the rich countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia etc., at the moment seem to have no refugees from the war areas of Syria, yet they speak the same language.

Note also that in the Middle East those calling themselves Muslims have killed more people calling themselves Muslims than any other group has.

I note that a friend of mine in Poland has come under quite a bit of flak for persuading the government there to give refugee status to people from these areas that have some kind of Christian background, that we should just take all comers or none.  Well, I think we should, as countries, be taking those in need, but we should note that in many areas it is the minority groups like Christians and the Yazidis who have come under the most pressure. Many have even been thrown overboard and drowned from the boats that they were escaping on, by others who did not like their Christianity.  Many Christian groups also saying that even in the refugee camps the discrimination against them is too hard to bear.

I recently wrote to the UK prime minister with my suggestion for dealing with the problem. Sure, my solution would not deal with the short term issues; for that we have take in refugees. However, these problems are not going away any time soon.  The prime minister's answer to me and others is that we have to deal with the source. Maybe, but who is going to do that, and in the meantime, what do we do?

My mad suggestion is that we lease land for 99 years and start a new big city; like a new Hong Kong.  We put it under the laws and administration of a country like the UK. We use aid budget to fund jobs in the new land, creating new housing, roads, schools, hospitals and general infrastructure, charging a levy to the EU for asylum seekers that they did not take. The country setting it up has first bite of infrastructure contracts, thus benefiting its GDP.  The new occupants are given passports, possibly stamped and not allowed to work or receive benefits in Europe, a bit like the stamp on Channel Island passports, who of course hold UK passports.  Mad? Of course it is, but we need a mad answer to such a mad situation. I am glad as I watch the global response to such madness, that there are other mad people out there that think this is a possibility. Recently an Egyptian multi-millionaire offered to buy an island to do just what I am suggesting. Another rich philanthropist in the USA also wants to buy an island, and then in the UK Lord David Alton recently put the whole idea to the British House of Lords. (http://davidalton.net/2015/07/10/2015-the-year-of-the-refugees-just-put-yourself-in-their-shoes-full-house-of-lords-debate-and-government-response-and-a-reply-from-a-north-korean-refugee/)

I started by saying I was privileged to have been able to put the problem to a UN audience recently, but talking is not enough. We have to do something. I am glad that the pressure being put on the government by the ordinary person is having some effect, and note that the UK will now take 20,000 refugees. Even Iceland has offered places for 10,000. In terms of the pressure being put on governments by their populace to do more, at a recent march to put on the pressure in London, I was amused by some of posters. One youngster carried one that said, "A refugee can come and stay at my house and play mine craft." Though I thought the best was one that said, "We need to be more German," especially as the UK had just agreed to take 20,000 people over five years on the day that Germany took in 40,000.

Adrian Hawkes

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Edited By: Kirsty De Paor

www.adrianhawkes.blogspot.com

Bureaucracy and Pendants

The Phoenix Community Care story - Chapter two 

Bureaucracy and Pedants

Someone said they liked the   first chapter of the story and asked, “When is chapter two coming?”  I thought, ‘Sounds like an interesting idea, I’ll give that a go.’

PCC was originally formed as a ‘not for Profit’ company, in June 1999; During those first few months, after Pauline’s conversation with the local authorities, making connections  and moving forward were not at all easy.  As I have already mentioned,  our youngest daughter had donated her flat for the first clients, once she and her family move out  we then took on the mortgage, this was in October.  The local authorities kept telling us, “There are lots of young girls we will want to place with you.”  But then we began to encounter the vast and sometimes overwhelming bureaucracy.  And one of the top priorities was an inspection of the house, to ensure it was safe.  Pauline kept me from contact with the inspector, due to his pedantic approach; I am not a violent man, but she feared I might thump him!   I nicked-named him ‘Mr Sniffy’ because every time we felt we had met their requirements, he would say, with a sniff, “not good enough!” 

Although the house was supposed to be homely, and feel just like an ordinary, normal home, the list of requirements was long.  For example door closers should be fixed to every door in all rooms, just like everyone has in their home? I think not! The way Mr Sniffy tested the doors was to place  a piece of thin paper between the door jamb and the top of the door and then close the door, if it paper slid down Mr Sniffy would sniff and say,’ failed’ with a subtle hint of glee.

Just imagine the cost of doing the work, secondary lighting, door closers, interactive fire alarm system, and the list went on and on.  Mr Sniffy had a field day.  Finally after much expense and many sniffy failures, we finally got our certificate.  It was now late November, we were rather swamped with bills and the monthly mortgage repayments, but at least we were ready to help. 

We contacted the local authority and said,   “Okay, we are ready!”

 Their response was,   “It’s nearly December and we don’t do much in December.”

“Are there no refugees in need?”  We asked.    

“Well yes there are, but it’s the processing,” they said, “and December is a holiday month.”

 Finally January came, but apparently the December holiday continued well into January.  No one in the department answered the phones, or responded to us at all.  Eventually,  towards the end of January we had a phone call and the department asked us to take  the first young lady, the one that I  told you about in chapter one.  The placement was on 1st February 2000.

Pauline said,   “I don’t know how we will pay the bills, the mortgage is due and the bank account is bare.  It’s great we are helping, but how do we survive financially?”   The department would be paying us for the work with the young lady, but we had no idea when, and thereby we discovered the next hurdle. 

We contacted the department and they explained the system for payment, “You will give us an invoice at the end of February for the people we place in that month, however you will have to give us thirty days credit, so we will pay you on the last day of March As it happened, we were not paid until the second week of April.  We survived, but I still am not sure how.

Momentum began to pick up, and soon we received a call for the placement of a sixteen year old young lady, she came to us as a frightened and confused teenager.  But several years on, she has a degree in modern languages, speaking four of them fluently and is still our friend; her husband and baby are an integral part of our community.

The process continued, until the house was full and we saw the urgent need for another house.  My daughter purchased a house, renovated it and then moved her and the family to another home, and as before, we took over,   ready to expand and help more people.  

One of the things that sticks in my mind was Mr Sniffy’s attitude The first house was full and the second one had not yet passed the expensive inspection process.  However the department called up and said, “We have a young lady, she is sleeping on a park bench and is very vulnerable, can you help us?  We cannot find any other accommodation.”

We explained our position,    “The problem is we only have a box room left in the house and it does not meet your inspection standards for size.  We have a bed in it, a chest of draws, a TV, and bedside cabinet, but I think its six inches smaller than Mr Sniffy’s regulations.”  (I hasten to inform you that didn’t call him Mr Sniffy to the department.)

“But this is an emergency!” They said.  Hence we agreed to get the room ready to receive the new placement.  

The young lady was pleased to have her own room, with a bed, TV, and a place to  eat which was out of  danger and away from  the park bench.  But Mr. Sniffy had other ideas

He did a spot check in the middle of the second week she was there.  He phoned us straight away, “Get that girl out of that illegal room or I will close you down!”  He sniffed, “I will be back at the end of next week to check you have moved her.”

We got people working like mad on house number two and managed to re-accommodate the young lady in a regulation sized room, but it still strikes me that in these situations the bullying bureaucratic regime has no compassion, no common sense, and takes no account of a very real and urgent need. 

I am reminded of what the Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 22, ‘…that there is no law against ‘kindness, goodness (benevolence)…’ (Amplified Bible) and I to wonder to myself if Paul, the writer, ever met a first century version of Mr Sniffy!

Adrian Hawkes

Edit:  Technicolour Texta

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Foster Care and Refugees

PCC Fostering and care for Refugees.

Pauline was watching the news one day when she saw a clip about a Norwegian ship which had picked up a crowd of drowning refugees off the coast of Australia.  The Australian government at the time would not allow them to land and some of them died.

Pauline was very angry about the injustice of it all and wanted to do something about it. To cut a long story short out of that event, with the support of Rainbow Churches, a new company was born called Phoenix Community Care Ltd (PCC). This company then began talking with the local authorities about the possibility of helping with refuges in the UK.  We were welcomed with open arms as the need was and still is, great.  In our area the Muslims were very supportive right from the beginning, they already had 9 homes, and they were incredibly helpful to us with advice on initial set up.

Ten years ago the PCC began work with its first home, decorated and donated by Carla Mayer. Ten years on we can house 30+ in our own properties with support workers caring for both 16 and 17 year old unaccompanied minors (young people in the UK without parents or guardians). We also care for 18+ year olds who are considered vulnerable, often young ladies escaping from war and rape situations. Alongside this we have added the housing and support care of those who have been in the care system but whom the authority deem not quite ready for total self-support.

Some years ago we recognised that foster care was also needed for youngsters in the country without parents, and after being registered as foster care agency, a long, complex and difficult process, we began to foster a young person of around 9 years old, who could not speak English and had been found by the Police after wandering around in a Supermarket for many hours, now happily placed with good foster parents by the PCC agency.  

My cry is can you do something as well? Since the events surrounding Baby P and the latest child death recorded by Birmingham Social Services, social workers are unwilling to take any risks and at the time of writing there are some 4,000 children who need foster carers but for whom there is no foster carer.  Could you volunteer? Could you be a foster carer? Many people want to but think they couldn’t do it, well you just might be able to. Usually our first question, as an agency, to a prospective foster carer is, have you got a spare room?  That wasn’t a hard question was it?  Well can you help? Please phone us on 020 8887 6888 and if not us there is probably another local agency or your local authority.  To get a lot done all it needs is for a lot of good people do a little.

Adrian Hawkes

For the Insight Magazine

Editor: A. Brookes

28^th July 2010

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