We help people bridge the gap between their country of origin and the new country. Our community (refugees and asylum seekers) are likely living in poverty, as they are not able to work and are new arrival in the country. They suffer from several barriers, as the first and most important one is that they cannot speak English, which guide them to loneliness, isolation and reduction in their mental health and wellbeing. We help the people to rebuild their new life in the new country by supporting them financially, such as with food, clothes, etc. These help them reduce the complex issues they face. We are aware of the ethnic, cultural, and linguistic barriers that minority families can face when they arrive in the UK, so we are a connecting and empowering Hub concerned for families in need from Middle Eastern and Eastern countries, including refugees, new immigrants, asylum seekers and other minority ethnic groups. Many refugees and immigrants (more vulnerable to discrimination and exploitation) live in fear when they arrive in a new country because there is difficulty speaking and learning English, securing housing, facing difficulty with transportation, cultural barriers, and problems with prejudice from the new culture. All these problems lead them to multiple stressors that can impact their mental well-being, including the loss of cultural norms, religious customs, and social support systems. This guides them to feel isolated from the culture. The asylum seekers fear being sent home as their documentation or status is questioned.Bridgeway is doing many social activities to help refugees and asylum seekers integrate into the Colchester community. We are friendly with our community, we visit them weekly, and we talk to them and hear from them about their needs and problems.We aim to empower the refugees community to become more confident and independent and achieve their ambitions and goals, as they are unemployed and their income is low, which means that the refugees cannot meet their basic needs, such as food.
Our organisation always respect the unique needs, perspectives, and potential of our diverse workforce whilst supporting the refugees and asylum seekers in our community. As a result, we earn deeper trust and commitment in our community due to the diverse and inclusive work we provide.
In August 2021, we welcomed 170 people who came from Afghanistan after the Taliban problem in Kabul. We worked with the local churches and local community groups who supported us with donations for the newly arrived families. The churches have been very supportive of the mission. St. John the Baptist church at Mt Bures, Hope Community Witham, Castle Methodist church, Fordham church and most of the local community groups in Colchester.
We visited the newly arrived families after they got home from the refugee centre and provided them with items such as a fridge, freeze, washing machine, cooker, sofas and a bed. We are involved with these newly arrived families to provide them with all their needs, like: clothes, shoes, toys for the children, food (on a weekly basis) kitchen equipment, beddings, gardening tools, hoovers, mirrors and hair driers and we visit them regularly to support them and give them advise for education and NHS and the rest of the rules in UK. We also connected them with families through churches, so they can befriend them rather than be isolated.
As a registered recipient with Stewardship, we've got an online profile page where all the supporters can set up regular or one-off gifts: www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/20370847
Charity number: 1195873
Email address: Bridgewaymission@yahoo.com Best contact: Souzan Yousif
If you want to support the ministry, you can donate to our Stewardship partner account number: 20370847 (Bridgeway mission) or to Bridgeway mission bank account, sort code 20-19-97 and account number is 23244741