The University of Gloucestershire's (UOG) Refugee Support Society struggles to help refugees during the pandemic

It hasn’t been easy for anyone, but for those who help others, the coronavirus has been a challenge.

The University of Gloucestershire’s Refugee Support Society is made up of a small number of students. They work to give refugees a future and aim to raise awareness. Eleanor Hill, the president of the UOG Support Society, said that the coronavirus has changed lots of the activities which they carry out.

Eleanor helps with the society as well as studying at the University 

A huge part of the society is bringing people together and forming relationships with refugee families. Before the pandemic, the society would host meet ups in cafés and in parks and would visit refugees in their houses. It's here she said that they would “give them space and see what they’re about rather than pushing them into white culture.”

Due to restrictions, this is now impossible to do. She said in terms of physical contact, there’s a “huge barrier.” Social interaction has been made a lot more difficult, and the society have found it harder to befriend people.

Before the pandemic, twice a week, the society also used to offer conversation lessons. Due to the 'language barrier' this is something that’s difficult over a call. She also described a 'cultural barrier,' in terms of schooling, as different countries teach differently to the English teaching system. If their parents don't speak English, then children "can be left to decode the information and instructions by themselves," she said. There are English translators and Cheltenham volunteers who Eleanor says are "doing the best they can" to help with this struggle. 

Another problem is that laptop poverty is high so simply doing things online isn’t always straight forward. "We had people taking classes on phones via WhatsApp, pointing at a PC which was being used by like 5 other people," Eleanor said. 

She said that the refugees enjoy meeting the Cheltenham workers, but with voluntary activities stopping, this social aspect is difficult to achieve. 

A poster for an online meet and greet which took place 23/09/20 

Eleanor is passionate about what she does and said that she thinks “attitudes towards refugees are becoming more positive. But she also said that refugees are a minority that are “easy to forget.” 

“People aren’t aware that there are refugee families in Cheltenham and they’re some of the nicest people I’ve met,” Eleanor said.

It’s easy to forget that there’s people who’re doing what they can to help during these difficult times, and maybe volunteering and charity work are two things which we should keep in our minds.