Sheila's story
Advice and Advocacy Team by Sheila
It all began in a roundabout way in 2003, when I did a 4 week crash course in TESOL at Coventry Technical College (as it then was). The pressure was unbelievable, and it is one of the hardest things I have ever done; however, it made me realise that I preferred one-to-one contact to class teaching.
When I first became a volunteer at Coventry Refugee Centre, I had two pupils who were Asylum-seekers and wanted to improve their English. However, they both moved away from Coventry and I do not know what became of them.
I have a degree in French, and was fortunate that an opportunity arose to interpret for the Counsellors and Art Therapist when they had French-speaking African clients. This was something completely new, and it was a really eye-opening experience as it brought home to me the terrible suffering that some of our clients go through before they reach Coventry. This led on to taking the D.P.S.I exam in which I was four fifths successful, and attending a course run by the Foundation for the Victims of Torture.
Having attended Yossef’s Asylum and Immigration training, he persuaded me to join the Asylum casework team, and this is where I still volunteer, and sometimes have the opportunity to use my French. It was quite daunting at first, as I did not feel confident enough to be of much help to the clients in their struggle through the labyrinth of the Home Office’s rules and regulations. However, Yossef, Gordon, the other volunteers and everybody, in all the sections, make the atmosphere in the Refugee Centre such a pleasant, friendly and stimulating place in which to be. One of the things I enjoy most about the Asylum team is that it brings me into contact with people of all ages and many nationalities, all sharing the same purpose of helping our clients to feel safe and welcome in what must often seem to them like a hostile and uncaring society.