We are raising funds to enable vulnerable refugees to come and rebuild their lives in Herne Hill, south east London.

In 2021, 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide due to persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. This includes more than 27 million refugees.

The war in Ukraine has forced over 5 million people from their homes into other countries. "I never imagined I would experience war" was how one Ukrainian teenager reflected on what had happened. The Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021 led to huge displacement from Afghanistan, Syria remains in turmoil and Yemen is suffering desperately. The UN Refugee Agency has said that, unless conflicts are resolved, the twenty-first century will see "continuously growing numbers of people forced to flee".  

Herne Hill Welcomes Refugees is part of the UK Government's community sponsorship scheme, which enables communities to be directly involved in the resettlement of refugees in need of protection in the UK. The refugees that we resettle are selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from one of the world's many refugee camps.

We do everything from finding the refugees we resettle a place to live to supporting them to learn English. We would like to give them the best chance of settling well into our community and having a new place they can call home.

As you can imagine, moving to London and starting a new life does not come cheap. Your donation will go towards covering housing and furniture, school start-up costs, English language lessons, translation services, clothing and other essential needs, as well as the group's running costs.

We have partnered with Citizens UK, a registered UK charity. This is your chance to make a difference and change lives. So far, with the donations we've received, we have resettled two families and are working to support a third family to come to the area.

Please donate today and share with anyone you think might want to help.

* If we fail to meet our fundraising target, we will re-assess our capacity to resettle more refugees. Should we raise more funds than required, the extra resources will go towards resettling further refugees and/or additional support to refugee families we have welcomed already if further needs arise.

Thank you.

Twitter: @HHWR_

Email: hhwelcomesrefugees@gmail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hhwelcomesrefugees/

PS. If you are interested in setting up a community sponsorship group of your own or would like more information on the scheme, please have a look here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-full-community-sponsorship