Meet volunteer Lorna: "it is life-enhancing to get to know lovely people".

Volunteer Lorna

We were delighted to hear from our volunteer Lorna, who tells us:

"My first experience of volunteering with HWR was helping at the monthly social lunches for Syrian refugees in Hitchin/Letchworth in 2017. Since then, I have used my experience as a secondary English teacher to help two secondary age Syrians with their English work, practised English conversation with one of their mothers and am now giving English support to another Syrian couple who moved to the area more recently. Once a week I also help at the HWR homework club in Hitchin.

I am inspired to volunteer because I can see that there is a great need for support and believe it is vital for people settling here to learn the language. I enjoy being able to use my teaching experience, now that I am retired. Alongside this, I dislike government policy towards refugees and the frequent negative press coverage, so as an individual I want to do something to counteract this.

From volunteering I have learnt more about how the system for asylum seekers and refugees works.

Meeting people face to face has also allowed me to learn more about other cultures and languages, and most importantly it has reinforced my feeling that asylum seekers and refugees are people just like us.

At first I was using Zoom to give English language support, as this was during the pandemic, and this created some difficulties, as I was unfamiliar with it. Nevertheless, it has been good to try to upskill myself on how to teach remotely and I think I have learnt quite a lot. Finding ways to overcome the language barrier is a challenge, which I enjoy.

In every interaction with those I have worked with there have been many moments, which have made this volunteering experience worthwhile – too many to mention. Overall, it is life-enhancing to get to know lovely people."

Thank you Lorna, we so appreciate your reflections on volunteering, and all that you do for Herts Welcomes Refugees!

---