by Katie, volunteer for Women for Refugee Women

Volunteers are people who take on unpaid work because they have a deep belief about service and what they are meant to do with their lives. And they keep doing it even if it is difficult or heart-breaking. And there are rewards.

One of the biggest rewards for me has been the connections with other volunteers: the other women who do check-in calls to women in our network.  The volunteers in other organisations that I liaise with who make sure food and nappies and clothes get delivered. The volunteers who teach English, knitting, writing and lullabies- a shout out to Mariam, Sandra, Jane, Helen, Stephanie and Hilkka-Liisa. We share how we are affected by the women we support and think together how we can support them better.

Being able to enrol one of the women I support in a class was a delight, added to later by hearing how much they were getting out of it.

I volunteer for Women for Refugee Women in order to be part of a political movement for refugee women. So, to the women in our network who volunteer to develop and promote the wider political work, I salute you.

This week is Volunteers’ Week! At Women for Refugee Women we are so grateful to our talented volunteers who share their time and skills with us each week, helping us to welcome and support our London network of over 350 refugee and asylum-seeking women. Each day this week we will be sharing one of our wonderful volunteer’s reflections, read the rest of this series here.