Action for Refugees in Lewisham, or AFRIL, has come a long way since we first opened to the public in July 2007. We began by providing a free advice service for refugees and asylum seekers, as well as a supplementary school (Rainbow Club) for children aged between 5 and 11. We are now proud to celebrate the fact that we work with an average of over 190 clients in a typical week from over 40 different nationalities and for an estimated total of 1153 people (including all their family’s members). Our Advice Service is receiving an increasing number of referrals, and each day presents new and challenging cases which involve giving advice to refugees and asylum-seekers about accessing benefits and legal entitlements. Please see Advice reports for further information. 

From September 2012 we will continue to provide:

• ESOL Class on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays provided by our partner Community Education Lewisham (CEL) with a creche for children aged 1 to 4 years old
• A Day Centre  with Yoga and Sewing classes
•  A Supplementary School for children (Rainbow Club) aged 4-12 years old 
• Advice Service for refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants on welfare benefits, housing, asylum support,  accessing health care and education, community care and immigration.
• Food Distribution scheme for destitute clients delivered in partnership with FareShare
• A Mentoring and Befriending scheme to provide practical and emotional support to vulnerable migrants

Our challenge is to survive in these difficult times and to secure funding for our core costs(Manager and Volunteer Co-ordinator posts) plus projects costs for the Advice Service. We continue to rely heavily on the support of volunteers who enable us to continue to provide our services. If you have spare time please do volunteer as we often need people to donate their time and skills to run our projects.. If you would like to help us, please get in touch. We are also recruiting for the Management board and would like to hear from people with a fundraising background to assist with funding applications. 

AFRIL is now on FACEBOOK! Like our page to receive regular updates on all our projects!