25 miles of silence!

I started befriending with Restore in 2021 and have recently joined the staff team as befriending coordinator! I love my job and all the incredible people that I get to meet through it. I find the asylum seekers and refugees that I interact with incredibly inspiring and believe they are a real benefit to their local communities.

Unfortunatley, many asylum seekers and refugees struggle with poor mental health and isolation. They find it difficult to interact with others due to both trauma and language barriers. Restore seeks to overcome this by matching asylum seekers and refugees with local volunteers who can offer friendship and a chance to practice conversational English. I have really seen the benefit of these befriending relationships through my work as they also enable asylum seekers and refugees to understand UK culture, find jobs and build a new life in the UK. Volunteers also benefit from a new friend and a chance to learn about a part of the world they may never be able to visit. Because of this, I have therefore decided to raise money for Restore by completing the yorkshire 3 peaks challenge which is a 25 mile hike covering three peaks which must be completed in 12 hours. This was chosen to celebrate the 25 years of Restores befriending service, and if walking for 12 hours straight wasn't difficult enough I've decided to complete it in silence to show solidarity with our asylum seeker and refugee friends who feel isolated and struggle to communicate with those around them.

Please donate if you can and be praying for me that I will have the motivation to keep up with my training in preparation for the physical aspect of the challenge... as well as strength for the mental challenge of being silent for 25 miles which I'm sure you can imagine will be a challenge for me! :)