What We Do
Restore works towards our vision through:
1. Building relationships and equipping for integration – through befriending and group social activities.
2. Motivating for action – through raising awareness of refugee issues and opportunities to make a difference.
3. Working for change – through partnering and campaigning with others to improve systems and services that affect refugees and asylum seekers.
Click below to find out more.
Befriending
Group Social Activities
Working For Change
Motivating For Action
Befriending
Restore’s befriending scheme is one of the key ways we help refugees and asylum seekers to integrate into life in Birmingham. One-to-one befriending relationships are social bridges that build relationships between refugees and the host communities and offer welcome and one-to-one support. Befrienders and befriendees meet every two weeks for a minimum period of six months. This is in informal and public settings, like grabbing a coffee, going on a walk or exploring more of Birmingham together.
In 2025, we were delighted that Restore met our annual target and made 50 new befriending matches. We support over 100 ongoing befriending relationships.
Befrienders can provide a listening ear, consistent and caring contact and opportunities to develop conversational English skills. Volunteers seek to understand and walk alongside refugees and asylum seekers on their journey in Birmingham.
Refugees have a well-founded fear of persecution and have fled to find sanctuary in another country. We are aware that many have experienced trauma and loss in their own country and on their journey to safety. We aim to offer them welcome, hope and hospitality.
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Each befriending relationship is different, but some of the key aims include:
reduced loneliness and social isolation
increased friendships and social connections with people from Birmingham
improved mood, wellbeing and mental health
improved communication skills in English, particularly conversational English
increased understanding of and adaptation to life in Birmingham and the UK
increased confidence
increased experience of welcome
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97% stated that meeting their befriender had helped them feel more welcome
96% stated that meeting their befriender had helped them feel more confident
94% stated their befriender had helped them feel less lonely
94% stated their befriender had helped them improve their English
89% stated their befriender had helped them learn about Birmingham and life in the UK
87% stated their befriender had helped them make friends with someone from Birmingham
86% stated their befriender had helped their mental health and wellbeing
81% replied that having a befriender would help other refugees and asylum seekers
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“You can’t always make it better but you can make a difference.” (Volunteer Befriender)
“Befrienders are excellent at providing the invisible things like just showing you around, providing company, giving you a feeling of normal life.” (Befriendee)
“What a difficult thing it is being an asylum seeker. Watching how she copes and her spirit is an inspiration to me. Her friendship is one of my daily blessings!” (Volunteer Befriender)
“Meeting my befriender has helped me a lot. She has helped me to improve my English. She brings me books to read and takes time to explain to me anything I don’t understand in the books. She listens to me when I have problems and gives me advice.” (Befriendee)
Family Activities
Restore organises occasional activities for refugee and asylum-seeking families during the school holidays, which offer recreational activities that many parents could not afford. Family activities have included visits to the ThinkTank (science museum), Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Centre and Aston Hall.
Family activities reduce the isolation of children and parents, improve mental and physical well-being and provide opportunities to make friendships with people in similar situations.
Men’s Group Social Activities and Women’s Group Social Activities
Activities are organised separately for men and for women every two weeks, with occasional mixed events.
These activities help participants to discover new places in Birmingham, make new friends, practice English through worksheets and conversation practice with volunteers. Group social activities also reduce isolation and improve mood, well-being and mental health.
We visit a wide range of places including Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Blakesley Hall, Balsall Heath Urban Farm, Lichfield, Sutton Park, craft activities, music concerts and ceilidh dancing.
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Reduced isolation and loneliness
Improved English language skills, especially conversational English, through providing informal opportunities to develop and practise
Increased understanding of life in Birmingham and the UK through providing opportunities to learn about Birmingham, its history, cultures, and recreational opportunities
Improved mood, well-being and mental health
Increased confidence
Increased friendships with other refugees and asylum seekers and greater interaction with local people.
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For men’s & women’s activities
99% of participants who responded said they had enjoyed the event
97% of participants who responded said they had met new people and made new friends
93% of participants who responded said they had learned some new English
86% of participants who responded said they had learned something new about Birmingham or the UK
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“Restore has helped me so much to get to terms with my health. I had suffered from depression. I needed a place to go to meet other women like myself and to share some happiness. Restore provided an opportunity to attend wonderful activities, to meet and to visit various beautiful places of heritage in the West Midlands together. Without the amazing support of Restore I would not be as confident. They have helped me build up my self-esteem in order to help other women like myself get to terms with our situation.” (Participant)
“Hardly a day passes without getting bad news, then a call comes up about a Restore men’s event. This is good news to a lonely man. We have been to so many places of interest around Birmingham, played football and gone swimming. This has helped by keeping us busy, reducing stress and helped uplift self-esteem. Visiting and meeting different people makes me feel relaxed and confident about the future.” (Participant)
Working For Change
Our grassroots work with refugees and asylum seekers shows us that change is desperately needed in the services and systems affecting them. The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” And we would add, and then do something about it!
Working for change involves partnering and campaigning with others to improve structures and services that affect refugees and asylum seekers. Examples of current campaigns we support are the Together with Refugees coalition and the Lift the Ban campaign.
The Together with Refugees coalition includes over 600 organisations which calls for a more just and fairer approach to refugees. The symbol of the campaign is an orange heart.
For many years, Restore has supported the Lift the Ban campaign. The aim is for asylum seekers to be permitted to work 6 months after they have claimed asylum. This would benefit asylum seekers by using their skills and boosting their mental health as well as increasing tax income and reducing asylum support costs for the Government.
Motivating For Action
In the current hostile environment towards migrants and especially asylum seekers, Restore works to change negative attitudes through raising awareness that refugees have fled persecution, war and human rights abuses and the need to find sanctuary in another safer country. Claiming asylum is a right set out in the UN Refugee Convention in 1951. The UK helped to draft the Convention and remains a signatory.
Restore achieves this through speaking engagements, training courses, participation in church services, and circulation of information and resources. We have also launched a Restore Ambassadors scheme where volunteers are equipped with resources from Restore to raise awareness about refugees, asylum seekers and Restore in their church or organisation.