Print
this page
Email
this page Newsletters - The Impact of Globalisation on Families and Communities
Migrant workers in the UK
“I got a new job… I now work as a sandwich board!”
There is a short silence on both sides of the telephone receiver, and then we both start to laugh.
It’s Traiche, one of my clients, a Macedonian, who arrived in England a few months ago, calling me from a phone box. His English is not good, and he knows he could speak Macedonian with me, but one of my rules is always to try to speak English, make mistakes, laugh and learn!
“Are you OK with that?” I ask, knowing that Traiche is a mechanical engineer, who would love to work in his field.
“Yeah, right now, I am on a break. I share this job with another person, a Bulgarian… We can only do it for two hours and then we must take a break… It’s exhausting, my arms ache, but it’s ok. Plus we get our lunch for free!”
We laugh again.
“Must go now. Thank you, anyway!”
“What for, Traiche?”
“Well, you are always there for me…and you did help me with my CV, which I’ve now sent around…”
“Fingers crossed then!”
Short silence.
“What… does that mean?”
”Just good luck, Traiche, good luck!”
I get a few calls a week from people like Traiche, and every time I put the receiver down, I feel elated, as if I have done something good, and it’s all worthwhile. And I feel the presence, almost like He is winking at me, saying “well done!”
It all started in 2006, with a casual conversation between myself and the then Nottingham Workplace Chaplain about new arrivals, immigrants from Eastern Europe. A few months later I became a volunteer Lay Chaplain.
I was passionate and aware of some of the challenges and issues facing these migrant workers. The original vision was for us to offer pastoral care and friendship to them but deeper research and networking have revealed a far greater need and opportunity for church engagement.
After making several contacts with institutions and agencies within the City and beyond, to tell them of our work and learn from them, I really got started.
They are not coming in hundreds, but there are quite a few out there we have helped - and continue to do so. They are getting more confident and are using their own experiences and skills we can give them - such as teaching them how to write their CVs and how to present themselves at interviews. Sometimes, just a listening ear is enough and a few comforting words from a relative stranger who happens to be able to
speak their own language. Sometimes, celebration is in order. And a call from someone like Traiche just thanking you for being there for them means “Mission accomplished!”
Editorial note: A sandwich board is a means of advertising whereby a man carries a placard over his front and back naming a product.
Top
