ORDENANZA DE COMERCIO MINORISTA DE LA ALIMENTACIÓN

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“Being a member of the group was for me a wonderful way to share my experiences with others and this gave me a sense of community.” Participant J.T. (Research participant)

In the context of the findings of this research study, most of the research participants talked about the positive values they had gained over a period of time through group membership that took place as part of my research project. Group meetings gave every one of them a sense of belonging and interaction, sharing together their day-to-day experiences, but most of all, their faith and hope for a better life. According to the participants their group meetings were always flexible and informal, allowing everybody to participate and make valuable contributions. This approach gave them the opportunities to discuss their views, experience and feelings in a holistic way and share with others some of the most traumatic experiences. They also had a direct, open and responsive interaction with others and they also felt as if it was a healing process.

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Most of the participants are members of several different groups with other community organisations, religious and focus groups. Participants said group membership was a vital aspect of their resettlement and integration towards adapting to the changes to their lives and their new communities. They felt that the sense of belonging to a group gave them confidence to deal with some of their personal experiences and situations. Their group discussions with others who were in a similar situation gave them some understanding and knowledge of how to cope with some of their personal experiences, because they were given the chance to share with others and also learn from them.

The participants found that members of the groups were generally supportive of each other and time was always provided for sharing personal thoughts, concerns, problems, advice and new ideas to help members with their integration and resettlement. They all felt a great sense of belonging, togetherness, acceptance and respect for each other. Members of the group also found their group meetings holistic and empowering. This helped them to benefit collectively from the programme and projects on offer and this played a significant part in rebuilding their shattered lives within their new communities and groups. Participants described how their group meetings give them a great sense of belonging, nurturing, survival and community. Their inclusion and acceptance was of great importance to them and the intensity of the needs and purpose was the deciding factor that ensured the survival of the group at whatever cost.

BEING A MEMBER OF ONE OF THESE GROUPS, ACCORDING TO PARTICIPANT T.G. GAVE HER

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Vignette T.G.

This group has given me a lot of help and practical support and guidance. Group members have created an environment that is supportive, interactive and holistic. There is always a great sense of belonging and my personal views and opinions are respected and valuable. I’m given a chance to talk and share with others from different communities

Participant T.G. expressed her feelings and sense of belonging to the group as very important to her.

Participants who were members of different social, community groups and networks said that their experiences of being members of this support network had helped to provide positive support as they integrate into the local communities in such a way that their emotional and psychological needs were met, giving them a structure that they needed as they wait for their asylum claims to be processed.

Participant Y.S. who had permanent residence out of London said that these groups gave her the support which the local authority was not able to provide for them to help them integrate into their host communities.

Within these support groups, according to participants, there was always a space provided for members to share their experiences, socialise and learn from each other about different aspects of their new lives and new communities. They were also able to learn how to access the relevant services that had been provided by their Local Authorities.

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The positive aspects of group support and networks within refugee communities were a very important factor that helped the refugees to be able to integrate into their local communities in such a way that they would be able to use their own skills and experiences to make some contributions towards community cohesion and development. This demonstrates that support networks are a vital tool that could be used to empower different groups of people from diverse communities to understand, share and work with each other towards achieving a better community structure and an understanding of each other’s way of life and values.

It was of vital importance for me as a researcher to interact with some of the participants within their different social and community support groups. The open-ended interaction of the members within their different social and community support groups was found to have been valuable and significant; hence it helped to simulate the thoughts and emotions of the members.

This interaction helped me to obtain other important information about the collective views and personal experiences of the participants when they were together as a support network, during their meetings and support sessions. I was also able to observe how these participants interacted in their various roles within their groups and these observation results were very important to the research study as some sort of field experience.

As a researcher, I was also able to observe and gain insights into the group dynamics of these social, support and community groups and how these dynamics helped to facilitate positive

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interaction and simulation towards revelation of certain aspects of their experiences that I was not able to get from a participant on a one-to-one basis. Therefore, group support for these participants made it easier for them to talk about and share their experiences collectively and gain from shared and collective views.

They wanted to share their stories together and they also felt that they were supporting each other because of their similar experiences, views and opinions about their traumatic

experiences. According to them they felt they were at the same level and hence they gave each other support as they probed deeply into their feelings and thoughts in meaningful discussions as they shared their experiences.

The participants said that their group meetings were special events for them to have

interaction with other members of the group and this for them was of the utmost importance as they try to find their way through the maze of their new communities, with all the hurdles that they have to jump before they get to the winning point: being given full refugee status.

The group meetings, according to participants, were flexible and this kind of approach gave them the opportunity to discuss their views, experiences and feelings in a holistic and simple way, which made it easy to share experiences and feelings. The meetings created an open space where they could talk about their experiences with others in similar circumstances. , most of the participants found that becoming members of different groups had been one of the factors that gave them inner strength. Their groups provided for them a sense of purpose,

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acceptance, understanding, emotional balance and way to meet each other’s needs in difficult times.