The YMCA places young people from diverse backgrounds and experiences. This occasionally includes young people who come to the UK as refugees and asylum seekers. Rose has had Abubakr, (from Sudan) living with her for 2 years now. She has provided a caring environment where Abu has been able to grow and flourish. They get on really well together. This is how she describes her experiences of having him living within her house.
“It’s been wonderful being able to help Abu. He has lovely manners, we cook together and he is always very helpful; he likes to help with the grandkids and they love him to bits. He has become like part of our family and has integrated in really well. He even calls me mom.
We are regularly in the kitchen together and he has learned to cook brown stew chicken, Kentucky chicken, curried chicken, curry goat and rice. He has also taught me to do joloff rice and other Sudanese food.
Since Abu started the ESOL course at South City College, I have seen him come on a great deal, his English has come on 100 percent. If there is something he doesn’t understands, he asks. My Grandson helps him out with his English. They sit down together and he helps him with learning new words.
Abu and my grandchildren also do exercise together. My grandchildren love him to bits, they have included him into the family as one of us.”
Rose’s advice to people who are interested:
“Go for it, it’s a good experience to help a young person and when they come to end of their term with you, it’s nice to know that they have learned a lot from you and they can go into the wide world using all of that experience that they have achieved from being in a Host’s home.
We are here to teach them to achieve something for themselves.”
Abu also says that he loves living with Rose and her family and that it has really helped him to improve his English and learn about our culture. In the future, Abu would like to learn to drive, have a car, get a job and his own home to live in. He will always have a family in the Black Country to return to when he moves on.
