Our third annual Education and Employment Fair goes down a storm

Over eighty refugees and asylum seekers braved scorching temperatures to attend our third annual Education and Employment Fair. Visitors received a fantastic goody bag of toiletries and stationery provided by Goods for Good and made connections with a dozen wellbeing, education, training and employment organisations.  It was a buzzy atmosphere from the get-go with guests welcomed by a team of refugee volunteers, hundreds of conversations with stallholders and pre-school children having supervised fun in the playroom. 

Eyosias (not his real name) told us:

"I met different people from various organisations. Someone from West Herts College showed me the different courses and explained different ways of covering the course fees, which I didn't know about before and was worried about.  Overall, I got to know different people and organisations. It was such an amazing and well-organised fair.  Thank you very much for arranging it for us."

And refugee volunteer Altijani said:

"It was a pleasure to help at the education fair, and I'm very grateful to be part of such a supportive team. I truly appreciate the opportunity to contribute and work with everyone at Herts Welcomes Refugees."

Here is feedback from the participating skills and employment organisations: 

"Thank you to your fantastic team and volunteers for a great, well organised event.  I really enjoyed attending and meeting everyone."

"I thought the event was brilliant and a really good chance to bring lots of us together so thank you for having us!"

And our volunteers echoed these views:

Sally: " How amazing that so many local organisations are here to support refugees and asylum seekers. It's inspiring and makes me proud of our town."

Sue: "As school and summer holidays approach, we think it's vital to bring refugees together with support organisations to help them plan for the future as they build their lives here.  So many are desperate to improve their English and get jobs, but it's an uphill struggle.  They left the event with contacts and plans for next steps and more knowledge about the opportunities available to them. We couldn't have made such a success of the fair without our amazing team of Herts Welcomes Refugees volunteers and the support of all the organisations who came along."

Marianne: "We meet so many impressive refugees, some with great aspirations and some highly-qualified and experienced, but unable to have their qualifications recognised in the UK.  We hope our event has helped people navigate their way through the hurdles they face.  It was great for HWR volunteers to have the opportunity to meet people from all the organisations offering support and educational opportunities, so that we can provide better guidance. And, of course, we are always here to help people along the way."

Thank you so much to everyone involved, amazing partnership working.