People say that we are an extended family and Maryhill Integration Network is their second home
Summary: <a href="https://www.refugeevoicesscotland.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MIN-logo.jpg"></a><br> <br> Maryhill Integration Network (MIN) started in 2011 as a drop-in point for refugees and asylum seekers in Glasgow. It was and still is a place they could get a cup of tea, good advice and English tuition. It has grown significantly since. Now it offers a long list of clubs, support and activities.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Ken spoke to founder Rema Sherifi and volunteers Pinar Aksu and Gianluca Palombo to find out how this amazing organisation has grown.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Here's the transcript (prepared by Xenia Raynaud)<br> <br> -0-<br> K: I’m here with Rema, Pinar and Gianluca from the Maryhill Integration Network. Hello everybody!<br> <br> What was the reason for the Maryhill Integration Network starting?<br> <br> R: Maryhill integration network was established in 2001. It started from 3 drop-ins along (the) Maryhill corridor as a need to support and advise newcomers, people who arrived in Scotland through the dispersal program. As you know Glasgow City Council and the Home Office in 2001 signed an agreement for a dispersal programme to reallocate asylum seekers and refugees from London and other places in the UK and Scotland. As you know Scotland was a new place to explore for asylum seekers and refugees and (there) wasn’t much in place to support them. So it came organically; naturally from the open hearts of the volunteers of the Maryhill Parish Church, Saint Gregory’s Church and Findlay Memorial Church. We offered leaflets and information. Basic information and a place to go for advice and a cup of coffee or tea and one-on-one English tuition. Since then, Maryhill Integration Network has gone from strength to strength. So now we have on board 60 volunteers, 9 trustees, 3 full (time) staff and 3 sessional staff members. Over all these years, the development of the network to be a place, to offer a platform to the people who are new to our society, to have a place to go, to feel safe and welcomed and to feel they belong to Glasgow, in the range of the activities we offer during the week.<br> <br> K: And was it always in this lovely building?<br> <br> R: No, actually I just started as a volunteer when the Maryhill Integration Network didn’t have premises at all. In 2004 I became a part-time staff member. First as a staff member for the network and my office was my bag and my laptop computer. After two years I had a little lovely office space in Yorkhill Church and my desk was Mackintosh Desk so this was the beginning of the development and growth of the network.<br> <br> For the last decade, we’ve been based in this lovely place. It’s lovely because when people arrive and when they join the programme of activities and different projects, they feel that this is their second home and this is a highlight that we want to hear.<br> <br> <br> <br> There is a range of activities. (We are) not only supporting and advising. We felt that it’s not only a cup of tea and some English words that are enough for people to feel that they’re part of society, and we established a very carefully designed program of activities based on the needs of society and also listening and taking into consideration the thoughts of the people who use our services. This is a key success of Maryhill Integration Network. Implementing (the activities), encouraging them to participate in the design of the program, taking ownership in running the activities and feeling they are part of it and that they have a place to go and do something on a daily basis. Because as you know most of the asylum seekers and refugees, there are more than 4000 of them currently in Glasgow, don’t have the right to work. No matter your skills, knowledge and experience, if you don’t have the right to work. You don’t have a place.
