Volunteering Update – August 2022

Summer holidays can be a difficult time for parents, so this month, we’ve organised some family outings and welcomed children into our drop-in sessions. We’ve also included some information about the volunteer interpreter roles available at RSG.

August Update – Kushinga, Volunteer & Drop In Coordinator

Client Trips

A special thank you goes to Reading Family Aid who organised two trips for our clients at the beginning of the month. One to Bucklebury Farm for 30 adults and children and another to Caversham Lakes for 10 adults and 20 children. Both trips were extremely successful and popular. It was a good chance for our clients to engage in some fun summer holiday activities. Most of our clients, particularly those in hotel accommodation, are not in a position to do so due to financial constraints.

For the trip to Bucklebury Farm, Reading Family Aid provided a coach and for Caversham Lakes, they agreed to reimburse clients’ bus fares, which was a huge relief as some were concerned about how they would get there. Families also enjoyed lunch and ic cream paid for by Reading Family Aid.

I would like to thank Vivienne Simpson and Mary, volunteers at Reading Family Aid. They worked so hard to make these trips happen, even hiring a big coach at the last minute, due to high demand.

Drop In Sessions

Our drop-in centre volunteers Keshav Sharma and Siddiq Haroon came along to Bucklebury Farm and their assistance and hard work is very much appreciated.

This month the Monday drop-in sessions have been extremely busy, during one session we had nearly 30 attendees, excluding children. Who have been keeping things lively over the summer holidays. On Monday the 15th of August, we had a kite making workshop and the adults really enjoyed it. We hope to have arts and crafts sessions in the near future.

The Wednesday drop-in sessions at The Quakers Meeting House are going from strength to strength. We are hoping to recruit an ESOL trained volunteer to help clients with their English Language skills, prepare for assessments, etc but in the meantime, we’re doing the best we can and our volunteers work very hard to make to sessions fun, inclusive and useful.

Volunteer Opportunities: Interpreters

Volunteers interpreters create a vital link between the service we wish to deliver and our clients. Our service users arrive in a new country without English as their first language. We are therefore looking for interpreters in the following languages: Pashtun/ Farsi/ Kurdish Sorani /Arabic (any dialect of Arabic)/Kurdish Kurmanji/Tigrinya/Dari.

In your role as a volunteer interpreter, you would be able to accurately and fluently speak and translate the language verbatim. The position would be usually remote (local only if you are able to attend RSG offices) and on some occasions you may be required to translate short forms.

Benefits for the volunteer position include an opportunity to meet with a diverse group of people, having a real and positive impact on the lives of our service users and receiving reasonable expenses.