Home is somewhere that should feel safe and comforting, but for refugees, home has become anything but safe and comforting. Instead, it’s become a place that threatens our physical and mental health. It threatens our freedom and even our very lives themselves. When embarking on the often perilous journey to leave our homes, we perhaps have a vision of the place we’re going to, whether from television, the internet, or from those who have gone before us, but nothing really prepares you for what you face when you actually arrive.
Often you’re faced with a very different environment to the one you expected. Some things may seem familiar, but while there is a degree of feeling safe, those differences don’t quite make it feel like home. Knowing how to access healthcare, where you can get your favorite foods, and generally trying to rebuild the dreams you had, and left, at home are things you often have to tackle without the friends and family you left behind. At best it can be unsettling, and at worst there can be official and unofficial barriers in your way.
Recent years have seen attempts to systematize this hostility, most notably by former British prime minister Teresa May and her “hostile environment”. This was a policy in which the act of bordering was outsourced throughout British society, with employers, landlords, schools, and hospitals being enlisted as defacto border guards who were tasked with checking the rights of those they engaged with.
Aside from the almost inevitable discrimination that results from such outsourcing that places potential criminal charges over people who provide services to someone they shouldn’t, thus incentivizing the restriction of such services in a “better safe than sorry” way, it’s a policy that has an almost inevitable impact on those exposed to it, with research showing the physical and mental health consequences for those who always have one eye over their shoulder for the long arm of the state. This hostility is being continued by the current government, which recently imposed a ban on care workers bringing their families with them, despite clear evidence that removing people from their families imposes a considerable cost upon them.
A welcoming environment
Such a hostile environment is designed to make governments appear tough on immigration, but apart from being performatively cruel, it also discourages people from making the best of their lives in their new homes by putting numerous barriers in their way.
Jelena Zikic of York University and Viktoriya Voloshyna, of Thompson Rivers University, highlight how important a good welcome is when it comes to ensuring immigrants can successfully navigate the various social and geographical barriers they may face when establishing themselves in their new homes.
In When Care Is Conditional, Dani Carrillo explains that for many, this welcome is provided by people who share a degree of commonality with the newcomer. They can be crucial in helping people navigate things like the jobs market and healthcare system. The role played by connections was reinforced by Zikic and Voloshyna, who found that connections were crucial in not just navigating the labor market but also locating libraries and training programs, accessing tools and resources, and even finding churches and other social activities.
Types of bonds
Carrillo found two distinct forms of social bonds that many migrants relied upon. Binding bonds, which are formed based on social or cultural links, were commonly sought by female migrants. These bonds proved crucial in forging a support network in the new location and were especially important when it came to accessing healthcare.
The second form of bond is the bridging bond, which helps to span different networks and reach out to those from outside of your cultural peers. This can be especially important when it comes to finding work, and Carrillo found that it was especially important for male migrants.
Charities like Breadwinners are often a vital step in bolstering these networks. The charity, which offers refugees the opportunity to work on bread stalls throughout London, not only provides newcomers with the chance to network with their peers and organizations in the sector, but through its mentoring program allows them to tap into existing networks across the capital.
“The participants in Breadwinners are among the most inspirational people you could ever wish to meet, and I joined as a mentor precisely to provide them with a warm welcome into the UK,” says Lowis Elly Fritchley, a marketing executive at War Child and Breadwinners mentor.
Help to thrive
VU Amsterdam’s Lena Knappert and colleagues highlight the clear benefits host societies gain when migrants are supported properly. They emphasize the determination and creativity that are the hallmarks of migrants who have often endured arduous journeys in the search of a better life for themselves and their families. They found that refugees, in particular, work hard to learn the local language, even when they face rejection. They take internships or jobs that might not match their qualifications just to gain experience and make local connections.
The University of Auckland’s Jay Marlowe and colleagues remind us, however, that the initial years are crucial to ensuring this happens. If, instead of providing a hostile environment that puts numerous barriers in the way of integration, society works to support newcomers to develop the connections they need to thrive, it will surely be better for the migrants and society.
I’ve seen how Breadwinners has been integral to achieving that during the journey of many asylum seekers in the UK, and has not only helped them to receive the warmest welcome imaginable but also helped them to forge both the bonding and bridging ties that are so important to success. If only such services were offered by the state rather than via nonprofit organizations, we could give migrants the very best chance to succeed possible instead of putting numerous hurdles in their way.
