Refugee Resource’s mentoring service provides support to adult refugees and asylum seekers by pairing them with volunteer mentors. The scheme has been running in Oxford for over three years and we are now piloting a mentoring service in Banbury.

The aim is to assist refugees and asylum seekers with integration, helping them to feel less isolated and more confident.

Refugee Resource is seeking volunteers in Banbury and Oxford to train as mentors this July.

Paul, a Refugee Resource mentor has been meeting with his mentee Nikolai* since October last year. Nikolai is a 19-year-old refugee. At the start, neither really knew what to expect.

Nikolai said: ‘I was quite sceptical about mentoring, but decided to give it a go. It has turned out to be a good thing to do. We have done a lot of stuff together from drinking hot chocolate and chatting in a café, to the cultural shock of going to see the film about Ian Drury and the Blockheads.

“I am particularly interested in politics, and Paul and I have had many political discussions – often whilst fishing! We are hoping to get tickets for Prime Minister’s Questions in July after I finish my A-levels’.

Paul also feels he is getting a lot out of the mentoring. He says, ‘I have learnt a great deal from Nikolai about life in the Former Soviet Union. I realise just how little I knew before we met.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our weekly meetings, and been immensely impressed by how quickly he has adapted to life in Oxford.

“I still find it astonishing that Nikolai spoke no English when he arrived as an unaccompanied minor in 2006.

“He is now just about to take his A-levels, and hoping to start university in September. I will miss our weekly sessions when they come to an end’.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor with Refugee Resource, please contact Sue Snelders on 01865 403280 or at suesnelders@refugeeresource.org

* name changed to respect client confidentiality