St Vincent's Support Centre Newsletter Summer 2015 | Page 6

Immigration
Drop-in
Y
SE STUD
CA
St Vincent’s supports migrants and
refugees through the challenges many
face in settling and building a life in
Leeds. Alongside free English classes,
volunteers at St Vincent’s have started
an immigration drop in service to help
vulnerable people find the right support
and advice.
After the death of her son and husband,
Rani fled the conflict in Syria with her
daughter in the hope of a better life.
Rani remarried, as her new husband was
an EU citizen he brought her to the UK
with him, escaping the conflict. Rani’s
new husband controlled all her finances
and made her completely dependent on
him. Both Rani and her daughter suffered
domestic violence. When the marriage
broke down, Rani and her daughter were
thrown out of the house with nothing.
Rani came to St Vincent’s immigration
drop-in because she had nowhere else
to turn. She was left facing destitution
and had no income. As she was not an
EU citizen she would be forced to leave
the UK. Her daughter would have to leave
school in the middle of her exams and
travel back to an uncertain future.
At St Vincent’s Rani was given food and
essentials. Working in partnership with
other agencies in Leeds, she was given
support to gain residency in the UK.
Rani was keen to get into work and
enrolled on a course at St Vincent’s to
improve her English and joined the work
programme to improve her skills and
find a job. St Vincent’s Welfare Adviser
supported Rani to set up job seeker’s
allowance and child support benefits.
Rani is now safe from poverty; she has
found a part-time job and is volunteering
on her free days. She is very proud of her
daughter who has now completed her
A-levels and plans to go to university to
study medicine.

Your support gives people like
Rani and her daughter the hand
up they need to get out of poverty
and work towards a brighter future
in the community.

Page6 St Vincent’s Newsletter Summer 2015

Meet the tutor
Shalini
“I love teaching. I used to teach in India. St
Vincent’s gave me a chance to get back into
teaching again and I really appreciate it and I am
very thankful to them.
Because I teach adults from different countries,
it’s helped me and them both to see all different
cultures and learn about each other as well as
learning/teaching English.
Teaching at St Vincent’s has really helped me to
g et back into teaching again and now I also help
teach at Leeds City Technology Campus.”

Shalini with her
certificate for Adult
Learners Week

Shalini completed the STESOL (St Vincent’s
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
Course at St Vincent’s and is now volunteeringas
an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other
Languages) tutor. There are currently 15 free
Our 22 volunteer
ESOL classes taking place each week which
tutors and teaching
are all taught by volunteer tutors.
assistants teach 28

IT’S A FACT!
classes a week!

We are up to the
3 Peaks challenge
.

High winds and higher hills were no deterrent to brave walkers from
St Vincent’s.
On 6th June staff, volunteers and supporters conquered the Yorkshire
three peaks raising sponsorship to support St Vincent’s and other SVP
projects. Events fundraiser Natalie Tiu said: “This was my first time
walking the 3 Peaks, it was so hard! But being part of the team and the
amazing feeling of accomplishment made it so worth it! I’m trying to
decide what challenge to take on next!”
If you have any suggestions for Natalie, or ideas for your own
challenge to support St Vincent’s, give the fundraising team a call
on 0113 248 4126.