Asylum seekers and the 'big society'

Daily, I witness tabloid-reviled refugees giving their time to help the more vulnerable. What a pity it never makes the news
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Asylum seekers, economic migrants: the debates snarl ever on, not always illuminated by the tabloids. But though the "big society" is big news, there is a side to the concept I witness daily, but have never seen reported: migrants can represent a very valuable source of volunteers.

Last week, we took 30 older people to a farm shop near Reigate. Now, being stuck in roadworks outside Leatherhead may not be everyone's idea of unconfined joy, but to a housebound elderly person, just being in company and escaping "those four walls" for a few hours can be hugely important. And two of the frailest passengers were able to come only because we had volunteers from Eritrea and Bulgaria to push their wheelchairs.

I run Ingestre Road Good Neighbour scheme, a small project supporting older people to live independently. We provide befriending volunteers to visit the more isolated, do jobs like gardening and window cleaning, and organise regular day trips.

I'm the only full-time employee. We have two part-time workers, but over 100 elderly members, so we depend on voluntary support. Currently we have 25 active volunteers. In inner London it is not surprising that our volunteers are diverse, but their range of backgrounds really is astonishing.

Since I joined the scheme our volunteers have included refugees from Turkish Kurdistan, Eritrea, Rwanda, Angola and Pakistan, students from Spain, China and France, people from the Czech Republic, Togo, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Syria, Mexico, New Zealand, Bangladesh, the United States and Jordan.

I'm not bemoaning broken Britain, or any native neglect of our vulnerable elderly. We get plenty of British volunteers too. Roughly half were born in the UK. More befrienders are British because that takes a longer-term commitment, which in turn requires a stable situation. More practical work volunteers and wheelchair assistants come from outside Britain. Some asylum seekers are not allowed to work but can volunteer. Language students often have free time for part of the working day. A Czech au pair uses her time off in the mornings to phone to check on and chat to isolated older people.

Motivations vary. People looking for work volunteer as a way of gaining experience and improving job prospects. Political refugees may see it as a way to rebuild broken lives and wrecked careers. But people do it for less straightforwardly self-interested reasons. A Kurdish refugee from Turkey regularly reads to a blind member. He has a job, and just got a place at university, both gained without so much as a reference request from us.

Unable to visit loved ones at home, missing grandparents and extended family, volunteering may provide a missing social contact for the volunteer as well as the older person. And it can be a way to break out of those expatriate bubbles, so seductive but destructive to integration in the wider community. And, of course, it is a good way to practise English.

But whatever the motivation, local older people benefit immensely from the input of our non-native volunteers. And not just in the obvious ways. Personally, I love working with people from so many cultures and backgrounds. It makes my job more interesting. But not all our members are keen on the demographic changes London has experienced over the last 50 years.

The majority of our clients are white and working class. Many are Camden born and bred. One lady of 90 was born in the same house she lives in today. They grew up in a very different place; one that was almost entirely white, with a very strong sense of community. It is hardly surprising if the transformation in the ethnic and cultural make up of NW5 has left some feeling threatened and bewildered. But witnessing those tabloid-reviled asylum seekers and supposedly selfish economic migrants giving up their own time to help out more vulnerable members of our community really has changed attitudes.

This week we have a cruise planned. If you are by the River Lee you might just see a party of elderly Londoners being taken out for the day by volunteers from Bulgaria, Jordan, Pakistan and Eritrea. It won't make the news. But our little international brigade will continue giving up their time to help vulnerable people in the host community, quietly and with little recognition.

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