The Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group meets weekly for asylum seekers, refugees and people who want to support them in Coventry. People talk, share their experiences and offer each other support and understanding as well as the chance to learn more about their rights in the asylum system, and opportunities and events to get involved in.
Coventry 4 Good funding has enabled us to provide a meal each week for three months. It is important for us to be able to provide food at our meetings for two main reasons.
The first is that as many of our members are living with very minimal or no financial support and no right to work therefore they struggle to get enough nutritious and filling meals. The second is that sharing food cooked by our members is an important way of building community, we have many members from different cultures and languages and sharing food is a way to bring people together and share something together.
Upwards of 30 people have attended each meeting, some people for a week or two, other members have attended each meeting over the 3 months. CARAG members come from a range of nationalities: at the moment we have most people from Syria, Sudan, Iran and Eritrea, with most other members from sub-saharan Africa, south Asia and the middle East.
Our Coventry 4 Good grant has been used to make:
- Iranian Rice
- Kuwaiti feta cheese pastries
- Macaroni Cheese
- Stir-fry vegetable wraps
- Syrian tomato and bean stew
- Pasta with pesto and mixed vegetables
- Lots of rice
- Lots and lots of salad!
“I appreciate how you supported us. Keep up the good spirit. Thumbs up.”
“The food brings people together”
“It means people can share all different types of food”
CARAG members on the meetings
We plan to continue the meetings for asylum seekers as a chance for people to meet to reduce isolation, support each other, shre experience and information and get involved in other relevant projects.
