Shpresa Programme promotes the integration of the Albanian-speaking community in the UK. Many fled persecution in the early 1990s with some seeking asylum in the UK. The team works with all members of the community including refugees, migrants, young people and families, and those affected by domestic violence and mental health issues. In this guest blog, founder of Shpresa Luli Nuzi shares how they’ve responded to Covid-19. Luli was also a trustee for SSE for 15 years.
Shpresa - which means 'hope' in Albanian - has always been about building a safe community. We started our phone support and befriending project to translate our mission to the virtual world, mitigating the social impacts of quarantine and keeping our users engaged. But above all, to support the most vulnerable people in our community - young people in care.
We also learned that some of our users living in hostels and shared accommodation were worried about their young children and how to keep them entertained and focussed. So we set up a storytelling project where our volunteers virtually read a story to the children with their parents. These volunteers are English-speaking from a professional background such as law and education, including friends from the SSE community.
Impact of Covid-19
From the start we knew that the pandemic, lockdown, and social distancing would significantly disrupt the work we do. Our first step was to ensure our staff and volunteers were set up to work from home and reach our service users via telephone to discuss their needs. To help them, we needed to move our current services online and train them on how to use the technology. This has allowed us to continue providing English classes for adults, Albanian classes for children, and professional counselling and therapy sessions through our partnership with Manor Gardens and Croydon Drop In. We also provide virtual information sessions to 300 people around domestic violence, parenting benefits, employment rights, and more. Our work with Looked After Children / Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (LAC / UASC) hasn’t stopped either. Weekly video calls give the young people access to different activities and a chance to socialise during this period of isolation - from dance sessions to exploring what diversity and equality mean to them. But we knew this wasn’t enough. Many of our users have been struggling because of the repercussions of Covid-19 and lockdown. The most pressing issue being that vulnerable users have limited access to food and money. And so the Covid-19 Emergency Response Project was born. Our first step was to raise much-needed funds. We started an initial emergency Crowdfunder which raised around £3,000 - a huge success. Here’s how we’ve been using the money and support to continue working with our beneficiaries.Combatting isolation with phone support, befriending and storytelling
Shpresa - which means 'hope' in Albanian - has always been about building a safe community. We started our phone support and befriending project to translate our mission to the virtual world, mitigating the social impacts of quarantine and keeping our users engaged. But above all, to support the most vulnerable people in our community - young people in care.
We also learned that some of our users living in hostels and shared accommodation were worried about their young children and how to keep them entertained and focussed. So we set up a storytelling project where our volunteers virtually read a story to the children with their parents. These volunteers are English-speaking from a professional background such as law and education, including friends from the SSE community.