Scottish Catholic Observer

Sarah Teather, who left Westminster at the last election, was in Glasgow last week to give one of St Aloysius College’s annual Gonzaga lectures on the subject of compassion.

She told the SCO her work with JRS had underlined that though ‘public opinion is very hostile’ and government policy ‘appalling’ she had been amazed that there were ‘so many people who are incredibly generous in what they give of themselves.’

“There’s always that going on away from the headlines,” Ms Teather (right) said. The UK Government recently faced heavy criticism for scrapping the so-called Dubs Amendment—a scheme that requires the government to relocate unaccompanied refugee children from other countries in Europe.

In contrast, Ms Teather said that being in Glasgow she had been struck by the fact that ‘people here seem very welcoming to refugees and also proud that their city is seen as being welcoming to refugees.’

She said what made JRS special was that ‘we seek to serve and advocate on behalf of refugees but a lot of what we do is be present for asylum seekers on a journey that might feel hopeless.’

“It is quite unusual because it’s about accompaniment rather than just service,” she added.

Ms Teather had worked with JRS all over the world, having left parliament in 2015.

“I was in East Africa, on the border of Sudan and South Sudan and there were these shoestring projects and it was refugees themselves that were doing the home visits,” she said.

“South Sudanese refuges accompanying other refugees and seeing their ability to be present with others—witnessing that was a great privilege.”

She said that as an MP she had worked a lot with refugees and asylum seekers but what had changed since coming to JRS was that ‘before what I was not able to do was form friendships with people; that’s the great privilege doing this work and it has given me a much deeper perspective.’

She said that from a policy perspective what would really help the refugees and asylum seekers she was working with in London would be allowing people to work.

“People are desperate to work, they want to earn a living and the fact they’re not allowed to do is often the most difficult thing.”

She said she would encourage people to get involved with local projects. “People always need practical things like toiletries and clothes but sometimes they need befriending—people to spend time with them, help them integrate. That can be a huge thing.” The former MP said she didn’t miss politics having decided to leave Westminster after going on a month-long silent Jesuit retreat.

“It was a wonderful experience,” she said. “I don’t know what I went into it hoping, just that God would provide I suppose, but after I left a day didn’t go by that I didn’t think about it, and even now, two years later, every week something from it will come to mind.

“I would really recommend it—it changed my relationship with God and Faith. It’s the Heineken of retreats.”

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