Asylum seekers in County Derry enriching local community

A Portstewart church is extending a welcoming hand to asylum seekers staying in the area while they are considered for refugee status.

The asylum seekers have also enriched the community through various volunteering jobs and a couple even treating Parishioners to a Gospel reading in Persian at a Christmas service.

There are currently 32 people staying in the The Rambler Inn hotel building in Portstewart as their claims for refugee status are processed.

Reverend Malcolm Ferry of Agherton Parish Church said the readings given by the men helped him see the Christmas story from a new perspective.

“The readings were very well received. It really brought home to me the cultural difference of the wise men coming to visit in the nativity story.

“When the wise men from the east journeyed all the way to the first manger, there would have been a cultural and language barrier for Mary, Joseph and the Magi when they arrived.

“This year we got a small flavour of that.

“To hear the Gospel of Matthew, the birth of Jesus read in Persian was a very powerful thing,” he said.

Prior to the service between eight and ten staying at the hotel had been attending services.

They follow the proceedings with their Persian Bibles, mostly online versions but one has a physical copy.

“They were worshipping with us, they were really making an effort to take part, they take our magazine, they are learning to read in English, they push themselves.

“So to give them the respect of reading and hearing the gospel in their own language, to me, it was a gift I could give them,” he said.

“They're part-in-parcel of our worshipping community now,” he added.

He says it is not unusual for the church to welcome new faces.

“Portstewart, being a seaside town, welcomes lots of holiday makers, welcomes people from all parts of Ireland at various times of the year. Portstewart is used to welcoming visitors from all around the world.

Sport and games

The church also opens its hall twice a week so the asylum seekers can enjoy sports and games.

The Rambler Inn is right next door to the church so opening their doors to the people staying there just made sense according to the Revd Ferry.

Some of the men are of Orthodox Christian faith so Revd Ferry says they discuss scripture and the stories of Jesus with them. The hall is merely open to the men to give them a place to enjoy recreation.

He does enjoy the odd game with them on their visits. The day prior to our interview he had emerged victorious in a game of pool against one of the men.

“They meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays to play some table tennis, to play pool, table football, basketball so they can spend their own time there.

“We don't neet to have a lot of volunteers coming in to marshal them or do anything for them because they don't need it. They're there because they enjoy the space and when they leave the space they pack everything away.

“It's there as an option. Some weeks they take it up and some weeks they don't. There are other agencies like the Red Cross who sometimes provide transport for them to go to Coleraine or there's other agencies who take them to various places,” the Reverend said.

While claims for refugee status are processed, asylum seekers are not legally allowed to work unless they have been waiting 12 months for a decision.

Keen to help out

But many those awaiting decisions in Portstewart are eager to contribute to the community and have offered to volunteer.

“The guys were in today to help take down the Christmas decorations, packing them all away.

“They have helped to do the spring clean of the whole kitchen, the floors of the rooms in the Parish centre.

“They need a stimulus for their minds. Sport has given them that and some of the jobs they've been doing has given them that.”

“They have a willingness to work and a willingness to learn English,”

While they study English in the meantime some communicate through Google Translate.

“They are not here for a better life because they have a good life where they were. They are here because it became impossible to live there.

“There are about 30 of them at the hotel at the moment and anywhere up to 19 or 20 come in to play the sport. They're very well mannered and have a total respect for the church and the facilities,” he said.

The asylum seekers are seeking refuge from Iran, Palestine, Guinea, Eritrea, Syria, Sudan, Kuwait, Yemen, Somalia.

To be granted refugee status the Home Office must accept that the asylum seeker is unable to return to the county they left because they have a well-founded fear of persecution.

That fear must be based on one or more of the following: Race, religion, nationality, political opinion or anything else that puts them at risk because of the social, cultural, religious or political situation in their country for example gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.