Fàilte Edinburgh

A group of Quakers and other volunteers in Edinburgh formed ‘Fàilte Edinburgh’ in 2021. We hope to be welcoming a refugee family in Edinburgh in the summer of 2022, under the UK Government-UNHCR Community Sponsorship Scheme. 

Community Sponsorship has been in the spotlight recently with the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine, but the existing scheme has supported refugees from Syria and Afghanistan in particular for some years, and the requirements differ from the new ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme.

The Community Sponsorship scheme sees groups of people coming together to directly welcome a refugee family into their community, providing accommodation, English language training, and help with practicalities like accessing health services, benefits, schools, and jobs.  Typically, the family may have been waiting for some time for safe passage to a new country, often living in international refugee camps for some years.

The scheme requires sponsor groups to raise a minimum of £9,000, find suitable accommodation, and develop detailed plans before making a formal application to the Home Office.  Once the family arrives, the group then provides support for up to two years, enabling the family to settle in to their new lives as quickly as possible.

If you'd like to help, the group continues to raise money and welcomes volunteers and donations of furniture etc, and is happy to support others exploring community sponsorship. Please contact us at: csfailte [at] gmail.com and we will get back to you with the details.

For more information on the Community Sponsorship scheme see https://resetuk.org/about/what-is-community-sponsorship/