At GARAS (Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers) we offer support to those seeking asylum in Gloucestershire, welcoming them when they arrive, advocating for them in their daily struggles, supporting them if they face being sent back as well as helping them adjust to their long term future if they are recognised as refugees.
Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (GARAS)
The Trust Centre
Falkner St
Gloucester
GL1 4SQ
Telephone: 01452 550528
General enquiries: info@garas.org.uk
Administrative enquiries: admin@garas.org.uk
www.garas.org.uk
Director
Adele Owen
Life at GARAS can be full of life’s ups and downs. It can put us all through a roller coaster of emotions which can be a challenge to manage.
Tuesday was such a day.
Finally, after years of waiting, years of winning appeals yet having them thwarted by the Home Office, a young client received the news we have been long hoping for, that the Home Office would not appeal against the Court’s final positive decision. This is wonderful news. This young person can finally start to build their life, finally feel there is a future, finally take their life off hold. This has been a very fraught time for them, unnecessarily so and it has taken its extremely heavy toll on their emotional well being, so we really hope that their future is now bright. Therefore this news was greeted with great joy.
Meanwhile, in the background, another client was sitting in a Detention Centre not sure what their future held. A threat of removal hung over him but no definite date was known. We did what we could in the time available and right up till late that evening, were calling around possible leads to see if anything could be done. But the last heard from them was a call from the bus on the way to an airport and the assumption can only be that they have been returned to their home country, a country that they had not been safe in.
Such can be a day in the life of any organisation like ours that wants to care for those we serve and do our best by them. We can’t solve everything, in fact sometimes we can do little when decisions are outside our hands, but maybe, for a little while, we can be alongside to show a humane face.
Adele