Messing about on the river
“It’s the best day since I came to the UK❤️❤️❤️ Thank you Care4Calais for everything you did for us yesterday.”
That’s the message I just received from one of the refugees we support following a boat trip on the River Thames that we helped organise.
We’re based in Berkshire, where boating on the Thames is popular, and one day one of our volunteers, known as Mama Val, got talking to a local boat skipper called Lucy. Lucy works with a boating organisation that runs trips for disabled and disadvantaged children and adults, ands when Mama Val mentioned the asylum seekers we support, and Lucy was determined to offer a helping hand.
A short time later, we had teamed up to provide groups of refugees with boat trips on the Thames which provide a step away from the monotony and worry of their daily life.
The refugees transported by our Henley-based volunteers were an incredibly multicultural bunch, from Syrian to Afghan, Kurdistani to Algerian and Mexican to St Lucian. All fell in love with the Henley scenery, and loved the calm of an evening on the Thames.
Donations from Henley Quakers, supporters and Pizza Express Henley mean that we were able to cover the cost of fuel and enjoy a feast of pizza as we cruised the Thames.
We’d love to take more people out of their daily stresses. If you’d like to donate to make these kind of things happen we’d be extremely grateful.
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