BNO Project

Phew !!! Talk about hitting the ground running. Having left the realms of the Department for Work in Pension to join this amazing and passionate organisation helping Asylum Seekers and Refugees from multinational states, it has been a pleasure to start the process in finding and subsequently then helping, guiding, and supporting the wonderful Hong Kongers who have arrived in our shores.

In my long and exceptionally well positioned previous careers from the Military to British Embassies and other Government departments spanning over 40 years, who would have believed that working with refugee families would bring such humbling prospective into one’s work. To know that many of the BNO families have endured lengthy and sometimes difficult situations, to then come to the United Kingdom to start again is very stressful and concerning. Until now within the Cambridge/Peterborough area they have had no guidance or support, and this must have been, so overpowering and to say the least made them anxious about their future.

Having now met 35 families, I am in awe of their resilience to manage and cope with little or no English support and yet have succeeded in settling extremely well. Well done my Hong Kongers I am proud of your achievements in doing so. In such a short space of time, I have managed to find educational places for their children, arranged free funded courses, have succeeded in placing one family into work, and now moving forward to conversational ESOL on a regular basis.

I hope that having PARCA in your corner now will bring relief and that you will now have constant support no matter the concern.

I am proud to be PARCA, proud to be a member of the Queens Voluntary Support award team 2022, and most of all proud to be your Project Manager going forward.

Donald MacLarty MBE BEM