“10 YEARS OF PROVIDING PRACTICAL SUPPORT
TO REFUGEES”

The following is the text of a Press Release which we hope will be given extensive coverage in the media over the next few weeks and months.  Remember... you saw it in the first in the DCRSC Newsletter!

2009 sees the launch of a year of recognition of the work of the Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support Council   in providing practical support to refugees and asylum seekers in the community.

Foundation
DCRSC is based at Whimple Street in Plymouth, and was founded in 1999 by Sam Kallon and his wife Sarah.  Sam was born in Sierra Leone and travelled and worked in many countries before arriving in England.  In 1997 Sam moved from Reading to Plymouth to further his education.  Sam understood the plight of other refugees and asylum seekers.  As a refugee Sam was instrumental in assessing the needs and issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers from across the world.  Through his assessment it became obvious there was a need for a centre to provide support, advice, guidance and information to asylum seekers and refugees.  A testimony from a volunteer who was working alongside Sam at that time says: “In the very early days at the Wesley Methodist Church Centre things were very informal with Sam in his tolerant way often rying to deal with several clients at once!   At first the role of volunteers was simply to talk to clients and make them feel welcome, plus of course offering tea, coffee and biscuits.   Sometimes we could go for a whole day and hardly see anyone come in – how different things are now."

Dr. Penelope KEY, OBE, MSc, MBBS was DCRSC’s first Chair of the Board of Trustees and the organisation owes a great debt of gratitude to her in all she did, particularly in the early years in obtaining major funds, such as from the Church Urban Fund and the Big Lottery, and also enabled us to obtain Charitable Status.  Her expertise in skills through her work in Cambodia and elsewhere with the World Health Organisation gave her immense knowledge and understanding of refugees and asylum seekers, which was invaluable to DCRSC.

Difficult Times
Sadly, Sam died in 2002.    However, the fact that the Centre is recognising its tenth anniversary shows that the vision the Kallons had ten years ago is still very much needed and continuing, despite ongoing struggles over lack of funding, which have resulted in the redundancy of the Manager and one Project Support Worker.  DCRSC currently has two paid part - time Project Support Workers and one part-time Administration & Finance Officer.

One man’s vision ten years ago has helped so many people over the years and has provided them with comfort, shelter and hope for the future.

The Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support Council is a registered charity and as such relies heavily on donations from its supporters.  If you feel you would like to help them by giving a donation of finance (please Gift Aid this if you can) or food, please contact the Centre on (01752) 265952.

For further information on the work of DCRSC please visit the website: http://dcrsc.cfsites.org.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus Fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells.   Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells.   They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.   A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Editor’s Note:  I came across a batch of these photographs and accompanying quotations.   The above item is the eighth of the collection.  I intend to publish each of the remainder each month. Ed.

Make a mosaic mirror for your home or as a gift:
Friday, 9^th 16^th 23^rd and 30^th January
Make a clay pot for your home or garden:
Friday, 6^th 13^th 20^th 27^th February
Explore printing techniques – create your own cards,
design and print a T-shirt:     Friday, 6^th 13^th 20^th 27^th March
Timings:    10 a.m. until 12.30 p.m. or 1 p.m. until 3.30 p.m.
Cost:     £3 per session.
Location:    STEPS, NHS Cumberland Centre, Devonport.
Telephone:    (01752) 556898

The ruling comes as the former Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, prepares to publish a report tomorrow suggesting that failed asylum seekers should be given the right to work here if they cannot return home.

CAMPAIGNERS have said that the way a deported family was treated was ‘abhorrent and shames our society as a whole’.  Sue Stratton, co-director of the Plymouth Racial Equality Council, said: “We certainly do not see the need to break down a door of a family at that time of the morning terrorising a young family.”
Leila and Fouzi Douik and their children Mohamed, 14, Fouad, 10, Adam, six, and 18-month-old baby Sabrina had their door broken down by immigration officials at 5am. Officers from the UK Border Agency smashed down the door of their home in Carlton Terrace, St Jude’s, at 5am on November 18 and took them away.  Just seven hours later they were on a plane bound for Algeria.
They were seeking asylum in this country.
Campaigners said that they were given no time to start legal proceedings to stop the repatriation and have claimed that the children’s rights were breached. The REC now fear that the two eldest boys will not receive any education in Algeria because they do not speak Arabic. Their exact circumstances are not known but campaigners fear that they are being monitored by the Algerian authorities in Blida in the north of the country. A doctor’s letters released by the REC said that both Mohamed and Fouad were suffering from psychological damage at their treatment. Lorraine Frances, from the REC, added: “The Douik children had spent most of their young lives in terror of being sent away from this country.  They had grown up listening for the knock on the door that could remove them from everything they had grown to know and love.”
The family had been removed by immigration officials twice before but legal appeals kept them in the country.
The REC said that the case had been left in a bureaucratic backlog and was due for judicial review.
Staff said that the legalities were not known because of the speed of deportation but it appeared that it had been decided that the review was not to be carried out. Asylum-seekers apply to the UK authorities for refugee status, which gives them the right to live in this country.
They are not legally allowed to work until they are granted residence.
Asylum-seekers are housed by a Government agency with private landlords and have no say where they live.
They are given special benefits which amount to about two-thirds of what residents receive on income support.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: “The Government has a duty to maintain an effective immigration policy and has made it clear that people whose applications for asylum have been turned down, and have been found to not be at risk of harm or persecution upon return, will be removed from the UK when they have no legal right to be here.
“It is only when claimants have exhausted all legal rights of appeal and have failed to leave the country voluntarily that the UK Border Agency takes removal action.
“Removals are always carried out sensitively, treating those being removed with courtesy and dignity.
“If it is necessary for the UK Border Agency to enforce the removal of a family then in the interests of safety and to help minimise disruption, the visit will normally take place early in the morning when the family is most likely to be together.”
He added that he could not comment on individual cases to explain why the Douiks’ case had taken so long to deal with.

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