Christmas Appeal for Food for Families Seeking Asylum
This was the fifth Christmas Appeal for Food for Families Seeking Asylum and as previously it was launched at a Keele University World Affairs meeting. The lectures are attended by upwards of 300 people and their donations provide the backbone of the collection. Godefroid Seminega and volunteers at the African Social Health Agency, a small charity in Hanley, sort and prepare the parcels for distribution.
The collection was less successful than last year with 192 against 240 food parcels distributed. Fortunately more money than was donated which was very welcome because ASHA was unable to subsidise the Children’s Christmas Party. Without our donors’ contribution of £785 the party could not have taken place.
Parcels were distributed to families and individuals from: Sudan, Zimbabwe, Congo, Somalia, Tibet, Kashmir, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fifty-two children and 85 adults attended the Children’s Party and the Salvation Army provided presents for 68 children. Some received their gift before the party if they were unable to attend.
Besides being entertained by African drumming, a Karate display, story-telling and a music competition, everyone enjoyed an African meal prepared by volunteers. This included Senegalese rice, Rwandan beans with aubergines, Ugandan matoki with peanuts, chicken wings and potatoes cooked the Kenyan way, oxtail, peanuts and vegetables in cassava leaves and beef cooked the Burundian way.
It is not possible to estimate numbers in advance. Nobody can say with any degree of accuracy how many asylum seekers there are in North Staffordshire. The volunteers cooked for 100. As the afternoon became the evening more and more people arrived taking the number to about 180. Not everyone got a meal which was sad but latecomers accepted this in good heart.
Besides thanking everyone who contributed and donated food, we are especially grateful to the Salvation Army for giving us toys for the children and to Marks and Spencer who provide carrier bags. This year the Breathe City Church offered additional food and we regretted not being in a position to accept their generous offer. Similarly the Grace Church in Etruria offered their premises for the children’s party but the hall was not available on the best day so the party went back to the Mandela Club in Hanley.
The food collection and the party would not be possible without the help of ASHA and ASHA’s leading light, Godefroid Seminega because they know how reach out to families and individuals most in need of support.