Category Archives: Kent Kindness news

GRANT FROM PEOPLES POSTCODE LOTTERY

In January Kent Kindness was selected by the Postcode Community Trust to be one of the charities to win a grant.  Apparently someone in a local postcode was to be a “big winner” in the Postcode Lottery and when this happens local charities who are thought to be an especially worthy cause are offered a grant.  When Kent Kindness was approached and offered £5,000 we were delighted to say yes please!  It was a particularly welcome surprise as, because of the high numbers of boys passing through the centres in the autumn, our expenses had gone up steeply recently, so that we had to pare back a little on what we like to do for the boys. 

As this money can be used for any of our usual Kent Kindness expenditures, if the number of boys jumps up again as spring progresses, as usually happens, we will be able to buy more textbooks and leaving gift bags containing useful items, and afford to cover more outings for the boys.  

Huge thanks to the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery who by taking part raise money for good causes, and to the Postcode Community Trust for judging Kent Kindness worthy to receive the generous grant.

WHAT WE DO AND HOW TO HELP US

Kent Kindness is a small registered charity offering support and hope to young asylum seekers and refugees who are living in Kent. Our central project is to give them classes in life skills and basic English, but we are also involved in offering them a range of other educational, sporting and social opportunities. You can find out more by clicking this link:

https://kentkindness.org.uk/whats-the-need/

We welcome all donations and will use the whole amount of your gift to benefit the asylum-seeking boys we work with. To go to our Donate page, please click here:

https://kentkindness.org.uk/donate/

If you would like to get in touch with us to offer your help, our contact details are :

contact@kentkindness.org.uk

We aim to reply to you swiftly.

PARTY THANKS

In January, Kent Kindness gave a party to the boys from both reception centres, to cheer up the wintertime. It was a huge success, with the boys enjoying a spread including home-made savouries and cakes, crisps, fruit, and coca-cola or water, and taking part in traditional party activities such as “pin the tail on the donkey”, “guess the number of sweets in the jar”, “pass the parcel” and an egg and spoon race.

donkey

A big highlight was provided by an excellent magician, who kept all the boys fully engaged and entertained with a tremendous display of tricks and jokes which relied mostly on visuals so that everyone could appreciate them.

magician

At the end, the boys presented Kent Kindness with a thank-you card which they had made themselves. It was a really happy afternoon for everyone.

A volunteer speaks

Ever wondered why the Kent Kindness volunteers put so much time, energy and effort into teaching the boys?  A regular volunteer and trustee of Kent Kindness had this to say:

For the last few years, I have been one of about 30 Kent Kindness volunteers who visit KCC reception centres to teach sixteen and seventeen year old boys English, and a little about English ways. The boys are unaccompanied asylum seekers, sometimes traumatised by their experiences at home, and on their journey.

Each time I visit, I feel apprehensive: will my plans interest and engage the boys? I’m never sure. Yet I usually leave convinced of the worth of what we do, whether the lesson has gone well or badly.

Why? First, there is the ready help of the staff. From practical errands to gentle encouragement of the students, their aid is invaluable Sometimes they have good idea about how to make the learning more accessible, proving, I suppose, that it is never too late for an old teacher to learn new tricks. (Many of our most successful volunteers were not teachers, however, and they demonstrate the benefits of a very different background.)

Then, their vastly different life experiences notwithstanding, the boys can be reassuringly like their English counterparts. No teenager is a naturally early riser, and these boys’ sleep patterns have often  been disrupted by weeks of night travel. In Ramadan, Muslim boys breakfast at about 3.00am, so sleep beckons temptingly by mid-morning. Sleepy students waking for lessons brings back memories.

Boys can struggle with their emotions. Just as with English teenagers, there is an intense loyalty to friends, and the abrupt departure from the centre of a close friend can be devastating. Bad news from home – the Afghan earthquake is an example – of course hits the boys hard. Perhaps the stability and continuity of the morning lessons does something to reassure, even on difficult days.

Most of all, though, it is the welcome we receive which makes it all worthwhile. The boys are courteous and appreciative, as my fellow teachers also find. They do, very much, want to learn. The Christmas parties have been a real joy, demonstrating the togetherness of staff, boys and teachers. Is it surprising that I feel proud of what we do?

BIKES SERVICED AND DONATED

Over the years, Kent Kindness has supplied quite a few cycles to the two reception centres, and we know that the boys really enjoy using them.

Recently, the three bikes in the photo were serviced and then donated to one of the centres. Kent Kindness used some of our funds to buy 3 new cycle helmets and pairs of cycling gloves to make sure the bikes can be used safely.

This is a very practical donation which will give a lot of pleasure, and we are grateful to the donor for supplying them.

We are looking for volunteers!

Just now (September 2023) we urgently need more volunteers to help us deliver classes in basic English and LifeSkills to the boys in the two Kent reception centres where we work. Both centres are currently full, and there are lots of boys who need our help.

We would love to hear from you if you would like to help us and fit the following criteria:

  • Aged 25 or over
  • Available at the times we give our classes, which are 10am to 12 noon Mon to Thurs inclusive
  • Able to get to the one of the two reception centres, both of which are situated in the middle of Kent.

Previous teaching experience is not required.

If you feel you could help us, please get in touch to tell us a little about yourself and to get more information from us. You can use the link on the Contact tab on this website, or send an email to contact@kentkindness.org.uk.

We would be very pleased to hear from you.

Durable Water Bottles

In the middle of August, Kent Kindness was asked whether we would be happy to supply durable water bottles to the reception centres. The centres were full, and the number of single-use plastic cups being used and then thrown away was wasteful and very bad for the environment.

We agreed that this would be a good thing to do, and sourced 250 durable water bottles at a very reasonable price. Happily, they came though quickly and were duly delivered to both centres.

Donate to Kent Kindness – for free

If  you would like to donate to Kent Kindness without it costing you a penny, please consider shopping through either ‘Easyfundraising’ or ‘Give as you Live’. 

Both are really easy to use.  Once you sign up to them and nominate Kent Kindness, all you have to do for them to donate to Kent Kindness is to do all your online shopping through their portals.  So, for example, if you want to shop at M&S, instead of going directly to M&S, you need to visit either  ‘Easyfundraising’ or ‘Give as you live’ and click on the M&S link there.  It is really easy, and the donations will soon mount up. 

To register please click on either of these links:

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/

https://www.giveasyoulive.com/

what’s the need?

There are currently many hundreds of asylum seeking children and young refugees in the care of Kent County Council.

All of them have made a very difficult journey to get to Britain; huge numbers of them are fleeing from war, terror, hunger or despair, and many of them have experienced trauma such as we can hardly imagine. At a young age, they have lived through situations nobody should ever have to face.

Kent County Council is doing a great job, and has managed to find foster homes for all the girls, for the boys under the age of 16, and for a very few boys aged 16 and 17 who have particular needs.

By far the biggest group of unaccompanied child asylum seekers, however, are boys aged 16 and over. These young people usually pass through a reception centre first, where their health, educational and social skills and needs are assessed. After that, they are placed in rented accommodation (a room in a shared house) in various parts of the country, where they live “in the community” while their asylum application is processed. That can take a long time, during which the young people have very little money, are not allowed to take paid employment, may have only limited access to education, and therefore need our help and support.

We have set up our volunteer group to give additional support to the boys aged 16-17 while they are in the 2 Kent reception centres where we work. We aim to help and supplement the activities and facilities already provided by the Kent County Council staff, and we work in partnership with them.

Our central project is to give the boys classes in life skills and basic English, but we are also involved in offering them a range of other sporting, educational and social opportunities. We provide each boy with an attractive book of vocabulary when he first arrives, and a small bag containing very useful items including a nightlight and a torch keyring when he leaves.


WE AIM TO EXTEND A SINCERELY WARM WELCOME TO THESE YOUNG PEOPLE AND TO HELP TO GIVE THEM HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.

If you would like to help us by making a donation, please click here
https://kentkindness.org.uk/donate/

If you would like to find out about volunteering with us, please send an email to contact@kentkindness.org.uk.

We would love to hear from you.

Registered Charity no. 1167921

can you help us with a small regular DONATION?

Kent Kindness is currently trying to help an unprecedentedly large number of boys, housed in two reception centres. Our costs have gone up because of the increased numbers – supplying educational materials, items such as sporting and art equipment, and the small packs of helpful items which we give them when they leave for life in the community.

Kent Kindness is a very small charity and we have no regular income. Could you consider helping us by making a regular donation – any amount, no matter how small, would be most welcome and used directly to help the boys.

If you can help, please go to our “donate” tab where you can set up a monthly payment.

https://kentkindness.org.uk/donate/

With very sincere thanks for your support.