Topic: Allotment related job vaccancy -Newcastle upon Tyne

[detailista]

Hope it's ok to post this here?

thought it might be a nice step into a gardening related job for someone just starting out in this kind of work.  I have no connection to this organisation by the way. 

Project Workers x 2

Permanent - 18.5 hours per week

19,380 pa (9,690 pro rata)

We are looking for two dynamic individuals to join our small friendly team.

 

The Comfrey Project aims to promote health and well-being among refugees and asylum seekers through horticultural based work on allotments across Newcastle and Gateshead. The charitys work has been praised locally and nationally and we were one of the winners in The Guardian Charity Awards 2009.

 

Working with two other project workers, you will plan and facilitate three weekly sessions for groups of refugees and asylum seekers in order to promote their health and well-being. The sessions are primarily based around horticultural activities on the allotment sites. In addition, there are a range of other activities and trips that complement these sessions.

 

The Comfrey Project is committed to equal opportunities and wishes to encourage applications from anyone regardless of ethnic background, employment status, age, disability, religion, gender, marital status or sexuality.

 

For an application pack and further information please visit our website: www.thecomfreyproject.org.uk/jobs

 

Alternatively you can email jobs@thecomfreyproject.org.uk or phone 0191 274 5588 (please note the office is not staffed full time and you may need to leave a message).

For an informal discussion please contact William Mortada, Interim Manager, on jobs@thecomfreyproject.org.uk or 0191 274 5588.

Closing Date 5pm Thursday 15 July 2010

 

[Tee Gee]

The Comfrey Project aims to promote health and well-being among refugees and asylum seekers

There we go again making things 'comfy' for the comers in when our hospitals  and medical profession face cuts!

The mind boggles! ::) >:(

Sorry  but I was taught 'charity begins at home'

To my mind this is going too far in such austere time!

I am prepared to help them who help themselves but many of these people are just coming for handouts such as these so I for one would not apply!

OK it is a job for someone who may be in need!  but why can't the comers in do these jobs for themselves? (but FOC not 20k)

Sorry folks! I guess this thread was well intended so no offence to the writer but as I see it it beggars belief!

[betula]

May not be popular but guess I must agree with you...........I know of several people who would benefit from something like that.......where are their opportunities?

No I am not a racist.....just a realist.

[gwynleg]

I usually try not to reply to things like this but feel I need to. People who are refugees/asylum seekers have often been through the most awful experiences - seen family members killed, been imprisoned, tortured etc. I think we should extend whatever help we can - those who fought in the last war were fighting for freedom and protection from exactly these things.

[betula]

Should amend my last post to say if the charity is funded privately it is up to them what they do with their money.

If the Government has funded it via the tax payer it should be stopped and the money put into the NHS or Education.

[asbean]

Wow! what a bunch of xenophobes on here.

Tee Gee and Betula - have you ever met an asylum seeker?  They are NOT scroungers, they WANT to work, but are not allowed to.  It is my priviledge to be the friend of several asylum seekers, they are worth a million of the skanky work-shy home-grown gits that you would prefer to support.

That's me over and out on this forum.

[betula]

Oh heck............if you are offended them I am sorry about that but I think we all should be allowed an opinion and I have given mine.

[Sparkly]

Not all assylum seekers are scroungers just like not all people who are out of work are scroungers. Yes, some are but to say they all are in a real generalisation. My experience through work of assylum seekers (college lecturer) is that they work very hard in education and really appreciate the opportunity. The same can not be said for many british-born young people who are often paid an education maintainance allowance (EMA) to stay in post-16 education (up to £40 per week). I agree with the comments re: the horrific experiences of many assylum seekers as well. One lad I have taught a couple of years ago had seen his whole family tortured and murdered.

[elvis2003]

the only response i had was that i wished close enough to apply!

[betula]

Well can someone explain to me why this project is not open to all.As I said,all sorts of people could benefit from a project like this for the benefit of their health and well being.

Also why do you need to pay someone nearly £10,000 part time to show someone how to grow a few veg.???

I bet you would find on any allotment site people who are prepared to show people the ropes as I have done for others and others have done for me.No charge for my time .

[elvis2003]

maybe this project hasnt been able to find willing people to give up time for free,it does sound to me like a privately funded thing...or maybe people they have asked arent willing to give time to asylum seekers,who knows,maybe the OP can fill us in

[Duke Ellington]

Asbean.............
Well said!
I now work for a charity that does similar work as this one. There are no asylum seekers benefitting from it. They have full time workers that are paid to coordinate the work.
The charity I work for does not reach out to asylum seekers specifically.
I have an allotment and I know most of the people on our allotment site work full time and have families. The idea Betula is that you have people that will be available full time to help someone out. Its a charity!! Its not only about growing veg but the benefits of doing something with other people that are might be going through the same problems. When you are a stranger in a new country come back and make a sensible comment. I would not seek you out for help with *growing a few veg* as you put it. Your attitude would make me run a mile!
Duke

[caroline7758]

the only response i had was that i wished close enough to apply!

I thought the same. And yes, it is a charity:

http://thecomfreyproject.org.uk/

[elvis2003]

wot duke said  :)

[betula]

Tough

[lewic]

I imagine the scrounging element (both foreign and English born & bred) wouldnt take up these type of activities, and it sounds like a great way to integrate and get to know people.

In my experience genuine asylum seekers are the most hardworking and uncomplaining people you would ever hope to meet. If your family has been murdered you are hardly going to be posing for the Daily Mail while complaining about the size of your bathroom. And if you are fleeing a backward religious regime you are going to be the last person to be standing on a street corner preaching fundamentalism. I know people who fled the Iranian regime [read Nazi] in the 1980s, and they are people just like you or I, who didnt want their children to grow up under tyranny, and they have contributed far more to our society than they have taken.

[Duke Ellington]

Tough

Ha ! a one word response ....just as I thought  LOL !!

[detailista]

The Comfrey Project aims to promote health and well-being among refugees and asylum seekers

There we go again making things 'comfy' for the comers in when our hospitals  and medical profession face cuts!

The mind boggles! ::) >:(

Sorry  but I was taught 'charity begins at home'

To my mind this is going too far in such austere time!

I am prepared to help them who help themselves but many of these people are just coming for handouts such as these so I for one would not apply!

OK it is a job for someone who may be in need!  but why can't the comers in do these jobs for themselves? (but FOC not 20k)

Sorry folks! I guess this thread was well intended so no offence to the writer but as I see it it beggars belief!

I didn't mean to start off a debate on this topic - just wanted to post a foot in the door for someone interested in an allotment related job.  I respect your right to express a different opinion however I hope you will be open minded enough to consider some of the facts beyond the Daily Mail et al influenced nonsense.

Immigrants, including refugees, pay more into the public purse compared to their UK born counterparts. (Institute for Public Policy Research, Paying their way: the fiscal contribution of immigrants in the UK, 2005)
An estimated 30,000 jobs have been created in Leicester by Ugandan Asian refugees since 1972. (The Observer, They fled with nothing but built a new empire, 11 August 2002)
About 1,200 medically qualified refugees are recorded on the British Medical Association’s database BMA/Refugee Council refugee doctor database, 4 June 2008)
It only costs £10,000 to prepare a refugee doctor to practise in the UK. It costs £250,000 to train a doctor from scratch. (BMA in BBC News, NHS fails to use refugee doctors, 16 June 2004)
Asylum-seeking children contribute very positively to schools across the country. This in turn enables more successful integration of families into local communities. (Office for Standards in Education, The education of asylum seeker pupils, October 2003)

This job will involve office work, driving, ordering of equipment, recording of participants details on computer, organisation of activities etc.  that couldn't adequately be covered by volunteers and needs specific skills.   Many people do give a lot of time voluntarily to this project already. 

If this country is ever in trouble and mine and my families safety is at risk then I hope there is a country to take me in!

[Squash64]

Well said Detailista, I agree with you 100%.

My husband is an immigrant to this country.  Not an asylum seeker but he faced many difficulties when he first came.  He did a job that very few people wanted to do - in a psychiatric hospital looking after people with severe problems, including double incontinence and violent behaviour. 

He thinks this is the best country in the world to live in and that is NOT because of 'hand-outs' and 'benefits'.  He has worked hard all his life, paid tax and never claimed anything. 

We have a Bangladeshi man on our site who works seven days a week looking after elderly people in their own homes.  A friend of mine has the same sort of carers - none of them were born here.  It isn't a case of foreigners taking work off English people, the English people don't want to do this sort of work.

I could go on, but I won't, I'm getting upset.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Having married an aylum seeker, and got to know a lot more, I've got some idea what they've been through, and how they're treated when they get here. You ket the occasional mickey taker in any large group of people; I've known two, one of whom went on to become a major war criminal. On the other hand, I've known a lot more who are as hard-working as anyone I've met, once they're allowed to work. As far as I'm concerned, they deserve whatever help they can get.