It's a small set-up with just a couple of paid employees that is aiming to grow and become a useful and solid support network for asylum seekers, alongside the more established Bristol Refugee Rights.
This place serves as a drop in centre for people seeking asylum in the U.K. as refugees from their own country. This can be for many reasons such as wars and conflict, race, religion and trafficking.
As you can imagine it is a total melting pot of all different people, of varying nationalities religions and professions.
The main services it provides are; English lessons (learning English is an important part of getting your status approved to stay in the U.K.), other activities such as sowing, reading and playing games such as scrabble (to also improve English) and providing a hot meal for all members.
I initially started volunteering because I was keen to practice teaching English (as well as wanting to do something worthwhile of course). However it turns out a lot of people like me (i.e. white, middle class, under 30) want to practice teaching English. So I've ended up assisting in the kitchen most days, helping to prepare lunch for the 80 or so people arrive. I was a bit wary of this at first, as I'm not exactly known for my culinary expertise, but luckily my role is more chopper/washer/cleaner/scraper etc. than menu mastermind.
There are also plenty of member/volunteers (people who have not yet been approved U.K. status but are volunteering here) who are a dab hand at cooking, so I really just do what I'm told. I've been going a few weeks now and to my astonishment I've found I really enjoy the buzz of cooking. It's really interesting to see how various people's cooking techniques differ, and the little tiffs that emerge on how to best cook the rice/curry/lentils etc. For example I've found out that in Sri Lanka they use A LOT more onion and garlic and spices than Middle Eastern Cooking, but less salt and oil. It's such an energised and friendly environment. Last week I was working in the kitchen with a Sri Lankan guy, an Iraqi guy, a Iranian lady, a woman from Cameroon and a woman from the Dominican Republic. You can't get more diverse than that, and it was brilliant.
We work constantly from about 9.30 am until 1 pm preparing and then comes the onslaught of dishing up to 80 people, some of whom for which this is their only decent meal of the day. Everybody is keen to get their fare share, and aren't afraid to say if they think they've been short changed on the plate up.
There are so many interesting cultural differences to observe. For example, the manager told me that when he first started he had to tell all the men to let the women and children be served first, and explain why, as this wasn't a concept they were familiar with previously and yet it's something sort of embedded in us.
I'll probably post again about Borderlands as I have so much to say about it, there are a multitude of issues and concepts to discuss in relation to it. But I'll leave this now as an introduction to the charity. I'm smiling from the minute I get there to the minute I leave (O.K. partly because I can't speak French, Kurdish, Arabic etc. so it's my only way of communication) but mainly because it's just an incredible welcoming place, which I guess is the whole idea, so they must be doing something right :-)
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