I decided to do work experience at Scottish Refugee Council because I wanted to meet different people and do something that would be good for my CV.
Learning lots and meeting new people
When I came to Scottish Refugee Council on my first day, I met Nina, the Women’s Policy Development Officer, who was my supervisor. She was so nice and introduced me to all the different staff in the organisation. Everyone was so friendly! Afterwards I read all about Refugee Week and the Spirit Project, and then Mary Kate from the Community Engagement Team gave me a task helping her to find pictures for their community workshop leaflets.
Learning about asylum cases at a Tribunal
The next day, Nina and I went to the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal and we watched some asylum cases. It was really interesting to listen to people’s different stories, hear from the judge and see how they make decisions on people’s claim for asylum.
Photoshoot for Refugee Week Scotland
I spent the next day with Suzie, the Arts and Cultural Development Officer, and Wendy, the Media Officer, meeting people in preparation for Refugee Week in June. First we went to British Red Cross and then to The Tron Theatre.
After lunch we met Ian, a photographer, and Jethro, who is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We went to Buchannan Street and took pictures of Jethro for his case study in the Refugee Week Brochure. It was a really good view for taking photos and it was nice and sunny. I really enjoyed the day but I wish Nina was there too.
Finding out more about asylum and casework
On my last day, I went to a training session called ‘The Essentials of Asylum’, run by Jamie, the Training and Events Officer. I really enjoyed it because I liked finding out about what’s going on in different countries and what the Home Office does – who are responsible for assessing all asylum claims in the UK.
In the afternoon, I sat with Tommy from the Integration Team while he helped a client apply for a travel document. There was a lot of paperwork to fill in which I didn’t like so much, but it was interesting to find out more about casework with refugees.
Thank you everyone for having me!
