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Diversity is what makes London great – and now a new initiative hopes to help refugees and asylum seekers meet new people in London. The idea is simple: refugees and locals can sign up to HostNation’s online system and people who live in the same area will be paired up together.
All ‘befrienders’ will be trained and volunteers from HostNation will check in with both parties to see how it’s going. The project was set up by Anneke Elwes, who was inspired to launch HostNation after she was introduced to Sudanese refugee Abu Haron (both pictured above) back in 2011 through a befriending service run by British charity Freedom From Torture.
As well as the costs of getting the project off the ground, HostNation estimates that the work involved to make each friendship happen is around £100, which is why they launched a crowdfunding campaign to make the project a reality. They’ve currently raised nearly half their goal of £10,000, but there are still 15 days to go, so donate what you can.
Find out more about the campaign and donate here.
Got your own idea about how to make London better? Tell us about it here.