The Red Cross report “Not gone, but forgotten” has recently been released. It focuses on the severe poverty asylum seekers in the UK find themselves, as they struggle to find food and shelter. We do not have to look to the Third World to find refugees who need our support. They are living here amongst us. Refugees who are destitute, who are hungry, who lack sleep, many denied health care. They cannot work. They do not have access to benefits.

Some are given an Azure swipe card to the sum of £35 each week for food and toiletries which can be spent at supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. They do not have access to cash. There are no Asda or Morrison’s stores in central Middlesbrough so people are compelled to spend their money in expensive supermarkets. They are not allowed to save any money on the Azure card. If there is more than £5 left on the card at the end of the week, the excess is taken back by the State. How are they ever to buy clothes in charity shops?

Local church groups up and down the country have worked over the last 5 years to change some of the supermarket vouchers, the precursors of Azure, pound for pound, each week for refugees so that they can top up their mobiles from time to time to keep the link with their families back home, so that they can shop in charity shops, so that they can catch a bus, use a public toilet.

UK Border Agency wished to put an end to these projects through the introduction of the Azure card, which initially they had promised could be used in local shops and cheaper supermarkets. However, by placing a cost on participation in the Azure scheme, local shops have been priced out and the big supermarkets once again are the ones able to exploit the situation and in this case exploit the most vulnerable in our society. Surely our local shops should be able to benefit from the allowance our refugees are given.

Why does UK Border Agency care where the money is spent? Why make refugees suffer even more? As one Eritrean woman commented last week, “Why doesn’t UKBA just kill us?”

Tees Valley Citizens for Sanctuary Group ask local parishioners and parish priests and church groups such as Saint Vincent de Paul, Justice and Peace, to pair up with individual refugees.

• To pledge to do part of their shopping once a week or on a fortnightly basis with a refugee to the sum perhaps of £20 per week at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda or Tesco. The shop is paid with the azure card by the refugee who is then reimbursed.
• The refugee could also do a weekly shop of basics for older members of the community.
• Ask a refugee to buy basics such as tomatoes, beans, pasta and rice each week. The foodstuffs would then be sold after church services each week and the refugee reimbursed with the money. All foodstuffs sold at supermarket cost. This would mean many could join in giving practical help to refugees at no personal cost.

Please contact the Tees Valley Citizens for Sanctuary Group: 079 406 66 906