North East Solidarity and Teaching
N.E.S.T.
A flagship volunteer project for Newcastle University Student's Union to help non-English speakers improve their language skills and empower the refugee community in the North East.
1st May 2018
N.E.S.T at a Glance
Started in August 2016
Originally 6 volunteers and 15 learners
Now 400 volunteers and over 400 learners
N.E.S.T operates 6 days a week
500 volunteer hours a week are spent on N.E.S.T
Phil Hay
Volunteer Coordinator of N.E.S.T., introduced this organisation
Shaking his head lightly, with a smile spreading across his face, Phil Hay recounts the time when he was first introduced to a Syrian refugee’s wife. "When I first went in I obviously shook hands with Haytham but wasn’t sure... do I shake hands with Dalia? Is it disrespectful if I do? If I don’t?" Continuing to smile, Hay acts out the situation; putting his hand out in front of him as if Haytham himself is in the room. "So I kind of put my hand out, then she put her hand out and [we] shook hands, but I could tell it’s not quite what’s done, but I didn’t know that."
This is one of Phil Hay’s many experiences of refugees that demonstrate the cultural differences between British norms and those of people from a variety of cultures, races and ethnicities who come to live in the country.
Developed when a Syrian gentleman joined one of Go Volunteers previous projects which helped non-English speakers improve their language skills.
The gentleman had arrived in Newcastle on the first plane from Syria to Newcastle; desperate to learn English and pass the IELTS language test so he could continue working as a dentist in Britain.
N.E.S.T.
a volunteer project
The 2015 refugee crisis, Newcastle City Council’s commitment to supporting the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Scheme (SVPR), and this Syrian gentleman’s dream of being part of British Society, made Hay recognise there was a need for this type of project. Especially as more Syrian refugees would be coming to Newcastle.
“We never want to turn a learner away when they come”
-Phil Hay
N.E.S.T’s main and original aim was to help refugees with their English, meaning they could apply for jobs, say hello to their neighbour or join a club. Hay stated, ‘I think it’s all just part of helping them integrate into society.’ Now there are six strands to N.E.S.T, with activities and sessions taking place six days a week, including creative projects, STEM activities, digital outreach programme’s and explore trips – trips organised to help refugees integrate into society and explore resources available to them.
N.E.S.T.'s weekly timetable
For many refugees, the project is a safe space helping aid integration. Learners travel from across the North East to partake in the project with some catching the train weekly from Middlesbrough. Reflecting for a moment, almost in his own thoughts, Hay recalls one gentleman who walked three hours in the snow to get to N.E.S.T. He pauses before continuing "in itself [it] is quite sad…but it shows how much these people value the project."
Adopting the philosophy to "never turn a learner away," N.E.S.T has ended up accommodating over 100 people in some sessions as word of mouth has spread. Run almost entirely on regular volunteers, and driven by students Bridget Stratford and Ala’a Otain, Hay credits the success of N.E.S.T to the students whose enthusiasm has helped grow the project to the scale it is today.
For Hay, projects like N.E.S.T appeal to students as they want to help vulnerable people like refugees, and it is easy to get involved in. With there being so many roles and strands, students wanting to volunteer with N.E.S.T can join straight away; there is no application process or interview, they just turn up and get stuck in. One of the benefits of having such a diverse base of student volunteers, is that many of the international students have learnt English as a second language, which Hay believes ‘gives them a really good advantage when teaching.’
Integration within Newcastle is greatly helped by the hub of the project - Newcastle University. Unlike many other Student Union projects, N.E.S.T asks people to come onto campus, rather than having the volunteers go into the community. By being welcomed onto the University campus and having access to the buildings and facilities, social barriers are further broken down; refugees often perceived as vulnerable and inferior crossing the gap with an elite red brick institution.
Though Newcastle University have been supportive of N.E.S.T – Go Volunteer’s flagship project- Hay believes there is a responsibility for Newcastle University to do more. Waving his hand across his neck to signal for us to stop recording, Hay takes a moment to think, before continuing. He highlights cooperative work between the University and N.E.S.T, including academics wanting to engage with the learners; before emphasising the importance of Otain and Stratford being part of a migration group which specifically looks at how the University can do more.
In the late summer of 2016 Hay applied for £2,500 from the Santander Foundation to initiate a pilot project working with Syrian refugees. Since then the project has received over £32,000 in grants from external sources including Middlesbrough and Newcastle City Councils; helping to buy more materials and equipment, fund training and ultimately grow the project further. Yet for most refugees participating in the project their aspiration is to return home - predominantly to Syria. Thus, for Hay N.E.S.T is about supporting the refugees and ‘giving them all the tools they need to integrate into the community and feel at home whilst they’re here."
Hay reflects back, particularly to meeting Haytham’s wife Dalia: "It’s kind of a learning experience the whole project, it’s just little things that you learn as you go along." Demonstrating that whilst it’s pivotal to try and integrate refugees into British society, it’s not just refugees who can learn something new, but we can all learn from each other.