Seeking asylum is a human right. And yet after fleeing conflict and persecution, suffering trauma and hardship they are greeted with systemic obstacles, discrimination and crippling insecurity.

Many refugees as such are at significant risk of homelessness and/or destitution, which compounds trauma already present, leading to immediate and longer-term consequences for people to recover and thrive.

Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN) helps prevent this by providing advice; holistic refugee integration service; asylum hotel outreach work; community development and training to get refugees into work.

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While the UK only hosts a tiny number of refugees they still proceed to make life as hard as possible for them. Many asylum seekers wait years for applications to be processed, in which time they are not allowed to work or choose where they live and are provided a mere £7 per day for food, sanitation and clothing. 

After this complicated painfully-slow process, refugees often face destitution and homelessness. This is because, despite many refugees being highly educated, when refugees receive a positive decision on their asylum claim, they have to leave their Home Office accommodation and their financial support stops. Support continues for 56 days (until recently it was just 28), in which time they must (with no support) find new housing, open a bank account and secure an income before being evicted.

It is support services which are expected to respond to failures of asylum and homelessness policies without additional resources. It is left to small organisations and charities to help challenge deepening social inequalities and alleviate preventable suffering.

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MRSN is an amazing grass-roots organisation which provides vital assistance to refugees and asylum seekers in Manchester. It is directly managed by refugee communities who know what is actually needed by these groups. They aim to build strong and independent refugee community organisations, develop the skills of community leaders and give people the information they need to settle and build new lives. They provide outreach, advice with complicated procedures and training.

I'm not quite ready to run a marathon so instead I'm shaving my head on the 7th of August.

Anything you give to this fundraiser is greatly appreciated - my own volunteering with asylum seekers has shown how little the government supports these groups and how it falls to small organisations to help navigate a hostile system designed to alienate and make life difficult.

You can learn more about MRSN's work on their website: www.mrsn.org.uk

Please give generously to a great organisation run by amazing people knowing that it will really help re-establish lives.