Youth Development Worker working with refugee and asylum seeking young people in Bristol to make Quaker values more active in the world
The youth development worker in the west of England, Zephyr Blofeld was asked by Quakers in the region to help tend their concern for welcoming migrants to young people. Since July 2024, Zephyr has collaborated with Our Second Home to offer young refugees and asylum seekers trips and activities in school holidays.
Our Second Home's (OSH) weekly youth hub aims to provide a regular community space, respite and practical skills workshops in a safe and welcoming environment for all refugee young people. The groups are designed to help young refugees feel at home and welcomed into their new communities – these are scarce and much needed opportunities for these young people aged 14-18, many of whom are quite alone in a new city and have fled difficult situations.
Support from the youth development worker means they can offer a different kind of provision in the holidays. Most recently Zephyr led the group to play wide games in a park in Bristol and then for a walk up the river Frome, where they painted stones and enjoyed a spontaneous moment of reflection by the waterfall. So many refugees and asylum seekers in Britain come from rural areas and are forced into busy urban environments. Many remarked how much they appreciated this time to be together in nature and listen to the sounds of the waterfall.
The groups are run in a way which expresses Quaker values of equality, peace, integrity, simplicity and sustainability, as well as continuing to support OSH values which are: acting with not for, the value of home, building leadership, social action, care and support.