Introducing Philip: A passionate new voice on our Board

11 February, 2026StoriesNewsTagged Volunteers, Our people

We’re delighted to have recently welcomed three new trustees to the Voices in Exile Board. This month, we’re introducing Philip, who brings a wealth of experience and a deep commitment to our mission. We caught up with him to learn more about what inspired him to join us and the expertise he brings to the role.

What attracted you to join Voices as a trustee?

I’ve been a volunteer with Voices in Exile since the summer of 2024 as an assistant on the ESOL classes. I really enjoy the experience but have also been struck by the extraordinary commitment, skill and talent of the team at Voices, so when the opportunity arose to become involved as a trustee, I was keen to explore how I could help more.

What experience or skills do you bring that are particularly relevant to Voices in Exile?

Before my retirement in 2024, I was a director of communications in the University sector, leading large communications and engagement teams at a time of change and challenge for higher education. So I have a lot of experience of delivering communications that help enhance reputation, highlight impact, engage people, protect organisations, and convey an engaging and compelling narrative. Having worked at Executive Board level at my last two universities, I also understand some of the pressures and challenges that organisations face and I wanted to bring some of this understanding to my work as a trustee.

What inspired you to join the board?

I worked in the field of migration and refugees at my last two universities. At De Montfort University Leicester, I was involved in work we did with the United Nations to deliver annual conferences on migration in New York, work which culminated in the university being appointed a Global Hub for SDG 16 for peace, justice and strong institutions.

At the University of Kent, I led our successful application to become a University of Sanctuary bringing together and enhancing the work of the university to support refugees through scholarships, outreach, research, fundraising, volunteering and much more. I wanted to continue this work in my retirement as part of the personal legacy of all this work and because these are causes I feel passionately about.

Are there any specific areas where you hope to add value?

I hope I can add value in these areas – communications, building a compelling and engaging narrative around the extraordinary work that Voices does, and around partnership building, and advocacy.

Why do you think our work is important right now?

The political climate is so challenging for the work of Voices and other organisations in this space right now, that the work becomes even more vital. There are so many reasons why we should do everything we can to ensure that refugees are able to play a full part in our national life – moral, legal, economic and cultural – but we also need to ensure that our country is a tolerant, inclusive and welcoming one for our own sakes and for those who come after us and not let ourselves and our true values become threatened and dominated by division and intolerance. Voices and other organisations in this space remind us vividly of our common humanity and of who we truly are.

Outside of your trustee role, what do you enjoy doing?

I enjoy music, theatre, cinema and reading. I sing in a choir and I’ve started learning tango. I keep fit by running, going to the gym and walking my gorgeous 10-year-old cockapoo called Betty.

Volunteer Story: Meet Sunny, our Comms and Social Media Volunteer

17 June, 2025NewsEventsTagged Volunteers, Our people

To mark Volunteers’ Week 2025, we’re shining a spotlight on one of our brilliant volunteers, Sunny, whose story was also featured on the Community Works website as part of their Volunteers’ Week series. Sunny has been volunteering with Voices for just over a year, bringing energy, creativity and a deep sense of purpose to his role as Social Media Volunteer. In this piece, Sunny shares what drives him, how he got involved with Voices in Exile, and what volunteering means to him.

“I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, leaving in 2018 to pursue a BA in Music at the University of Sussex. Upon graduating, I took on roles in hospitality and events – then teaching music as a primary school supply teacher. I now work full time at Music in Hospitals and Care, a charity sharing the healing power of live music across care homes, hospitals, and day centres across the UK.

I’m a passionate human rights advocate with a lifelong interest in global politics and humanitarian social affairs. I enjoy volunteering with various groups, playing and writing music, and watching football. I found out about Voices in Exile by taking part in migrants rights protests in Brighton, and eventually through my mother who became Group Facilitator.

I have been working with Voices for a year now as a Social Media Volunteer, where I manage our platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, LinkedIn) by posting regular content and also working with other volunteers to collate content to add to our socials and brand new website. I attend community events when the opportunity comes, to take pictures, gather quotes, and meet people where I can explain the positive work we do in the community. One key aspect of being a social media volunteer is the planning that comes with it – needing to have a content schedule matched with achievable goals – of when and what to post.

One of my highlights in the last year was encouraging the charity to move away from X and onto Bluesky, following other charities in the migrant sector in their move.”

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, or LinkedIn to keep up with all the fantastic content that Sunny and the team share!

Celebrating Volunteer’s Week 2025: Thank you to our volunteers!

2 June, 2025NewsEventsTagged Our people, Community, Volunteers

Volunteer’s Week is a national celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering. It takes place every year during the first week of June and is a chance to recognise, thank and celebrate the impact volunteers have in our communities.

At Voices in Exile, volunteers are at the heart of everything we do. During this Volunteer’s Week, we want to take a moment to celebrate and say a huge thank you to the incredible individuals who give their time, energy and compassion to support refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants across Sussex and Surrey.

The range of roles that our volunteers take on

Volunteers support our work in so many different ways. From working in the food bank to helping with back-office support, admin, marketing, social media and events; from teaching English and running support groups, to mentoring clients and helping with ad-hoc tasks – like putting together flatpack furniture for someone moving into a new home, or accompanying someone to a medical appointment.

No matter how big or small the task, every act of support makes a real and positive impact.

20 years of support from volunteers

This year is particularly special for us, as we mark 20 years since Voices in Exile was founded. We began as a grassroots, volunteer-led organisation – created by people who saw a need and stepped in to help. Without volunteers, Voices in Exile simply wouldn’t exist. That spirit of compassion, solidarity and community still drives us today.

The integral part that volunteers play: Team perspectives

As Beth, our Advice and Casework Manager, shares:

“Volunteers are a vital part of the advice team and bring different skills and experiences. They significantly increase our capacity and reach across the whole of our service and are an invaluable part of the team. We regularly receive positive feedback from people accessing our service about their experience of the support from volunteers.”

In our casework team, generalist volunteers play a key role in advocacy – often making a life-changing difference to individuals who may be at risk of homelessness or destitution. Anerley, another of our Caseworkers, explains:

“Our Generalist Volunteers get involved in advocacy making significant impact to an individual. I think having another person speak with a client offers a different approach… it makes the case more holistic and feels like we cover more areas of support.”

In our ESOL classes and support groups, volunteers help create welcoming, inclusive spaces where people can build confidence, learn and feel part of a community. As Hayat, our Group Facilitator, says:

“The volunteers help me to create a sense of community and belonging in the groups… The group members value their presence and look forward to seeing them every week. We’re very lucky to have such dedicated individuals in the groups.”

Colin, our Food Bank Coordinator, sees the difference volunteers make every single day:

“I see clients arrive with a worried frown and leave with a big smile, not just because of the food we give them but because our volunteers listen to them and engage with them… They really love working with each other and support each other. I arrive on Monday morning with a smile and leave with a bigger one!”

Our ESOL Teacher, Tilly, summed it up beautifully:

“The ESOL classes could not run without you. Thank you all for your time, your dedication, your good humour and your compassion.”

From everyone at Voices in Exile, thank you. You are a vital part of our team. Your kindness, dedication and belief in a more just and welcoming world makes a real difference. This Volunteer’s Week, we celebrate you and all that you do.

Finding a new passion in supporting others: Rahmat’s story

27 February, 2025NewsTagged Volunteers, Stories, Community

Our volunteers play a vital role in supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants as they navigate life in the UK. From language lessons to practical advice, their dedication makes a real difference in helping people build new lives. In this blog, Rahmat, one of our incredible volunteers, shares his journey—from moving to the UK himself to now supporting others in their own resettlement.

“I’m a retired Finance Director. I am married with two daughters and four grandchildren. I was born in Iran and came to England in 1970 to go to university before training as a Chartered Accountant. We lived and worked in and around London until 1997 when we moved to Brighton, where my wife is from—well, Hove, actually!

The first few years after retirement I was busy travelling, helping with the grandchildren and gardening, but I was increasingly aware of the serious problems migrants faced on arrival in the UK and thought that I might be able to help in some way.

When I arrived in England, I spoke English and was well supported in many ways and yet I found it quite difficult to settle in a new country on my own, away from friends and family. I could only imagine how much harder it was for new migrants some of whom had arrived here under very difficult circumstances, had little or no English and had minimal resources available to them. That is when I offered to volunteer with ViE.

I spent the first few weeks at ViE helping with the food bank before I was asked to help an Afghan couple who’d arrived here after many months of hardship via migrant camps in Pakistan. They’d had to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban arrived and the UK forces withdrew from the country.

After all these years, I still remember some of my mother language, Farsi and the migrant couple spoke Dari, a dialect of Farsi, so it seemed that I might be able to help. My role was mainly to teach them English, act as liaison between them and the Voices in Exile case workers and as an informal translator when required.

I use free ESOL resources available on the internet to prepare a weekly lesson plan, to help them with English vocabulary, speaking or grammar, but we also find time to discuss their day to day life here, address problems they might have with utilities, the banks, their landlord, etc. for their case worker to deal with, as well as their old lives and family they have left behind in Afghanistan. 

It’s now just over two years since I started working with them and I hope that they are a little better prepared to manage their lives independently.”

Voices in Exile volunteer, Rahmat

Volunteers Week 2024: A history of volunteering at Voices in Exile

1 June, 2024EventsTagged Volunteers

From Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th June, we’re celebrating Volunteers Week — a time to recognise the contributions that volunteers make to organisations like Voices in Exile, as well as other charities, social organisations and groups across the UK.

Volunteers’ Week was first established in 1984, and since then it has grown in popularity and is celebrated by many charities across the UK, with this year representing it’s 40th anniversary.

As well as recognising the contribution that millions of volunteers make to society, the initiative also highlights the many benefits that volunteering also brings for those who do it. From building connections and learning new skills, to improving wellbeing and uncovering new talents, volunteering is a highly rewarding experience for those who get involved.

Throughout the week, we want to highlight the positive impact that volunteers have for our service users, staff, and local community through donating their time, effort and talents.

Read on to learn more about the history of volunteering at Voices in Exile, and how volunteers support us in delivering our services.

Volunteers at the heart of Voices in Exile since our early days

Did you know that Voices in Exile started out 19 years ago as a grassroots organisation completely run by volunteers?

The organisation was set up in 2005 to address the urgent need for practical support and legal advice for refugees and vulnerable migrants in Brighton and Sussex.

In the early days, we were run entirely by volunteers, with different backgrounds and skillsets, who donated their time to enable us to deliver our services. We became registered as a charity in 2009, and became OISC-accredited in 2011, so that we could deliver immigration advice and casework up to Level 2. We now work with around 700 clients a year, providing specialist legal advice to those otherwise unable to access justice, as well as many other holistic support services.

A growing network of volunteers support service users in many ways

As Voices in Exile has grown over the years, we’ve taken on a team of paid staff to meet our evolving needs, but we still work with a network of 55+ volunteers to support us with service delivery.

Our volunteers, several of whom are also service users, provide additional capacity in every area of our work, such as:

Casework and immigration: helping with paperwork and accompanying our clients to appointments; supporting with immigration applications

Skills and employability: English practice, CV writing, job searches, enrolment on training courses

Food bank: processing donations, packing food, providing destitution information, driving to pick up and drop off deliveries

Groups: encouraging participation, friendship, integration and information

Resettlement: preparing accommodation for new arrivals, opening bank accounts, GP registration

Communications and events: support with marketing, social media, website management and organising or running events

Finance and admin: office support with finance and admin to keep things running smoothly

Offering our service users the chance to get involved with volunteering

Our evolution from a grassroots organisation — in which service users chose the charity’s name and aims — has established a collaborative approach that involves our clients in both developing and delivering our services. No one can better understand the needs and experiences of refugees, migrant and displaced people than those who have lived it themselves.

Our service users are encouraged to get involved with volunteering with Voices in Exile if they would like to. Supporting and training people to become volunteers can help develop English skills, build confidence, boost employability, and expand social networks.

Supporting our volunteers to make a positive impact

Our Volunteer Coordinator, liaises with staff to assess current needs and then recruits, trains and supports our network of volunteers. As well as making sure that Voices in Exile staff have the teams of volunteers they need, Sue works closely with the volunteers themselves to make sure that their experience is rewarding and positive too.

Our Volunteer Coordinator commented, “We rely heavily on our volunteer base, and I strive to make each and every volunteer feel included, appreciated, and supported. I believe volunteering opportunities should be an accessible path for everyone to get involved in their local community and support the integration of service users into the world of volunteering and the benefits that this offers to them.”

Thanks to our network of volunteers, who successfully support our core staff, our capacity to help clients is greatly increased. This means more people make progress towards secure immigration status and are reunited with family in the UK. It means that more people have access to accommodation, food, financial support, healthcare, education and training, skills development, English classes, technology and knowledge of local services.

Celebrating the many benefits of volunteering

People are drawn to volunteering for many different reasons. For some, it’s a chance to build confidence, develop new skills and make new connections. For others, it might be a way to take action to support a cause they care about or use their expertise to make a positive impact in society.

One of our volunteers, Aisha, said “I chose to volunteer with Voices in Exile because as an immigrant myself I feel an affinity with refugees and asylum seekers. I find it rewarding supporting my clients, giving them more confidence.”.

Another volunteer, Garry, commented, “The reward is in supporting refugees to continue their lives, in the UK, to the best of their abilities, feeling they have positive support if they need and in balancing out a little, the negative environment here.”

And another volunteer said, “The sense of community is a significant benefit of volunteering here – with volunteers and staff members around you who truly care about asylum seekers. I am excited to be a part of this community.”

Whatever path leads you to volunteering, the benefits and rewards are significant. This Volunteers Week, and every other week, we celebrate our amazing volunteers for the invaluable contributions they make to our organisation.