Embrace: Befriending

Our Embrace project coordinator, Lauren, has written a series of posts explaining Embrace in more detail. In this second post, Lauren shares about the Befriending Project...

Have you ever felt alone? No one to talk to, cry to, laugh with, or just be in the presence of? No one to have coffee, or go on a walk, or have dinner with. No one to sing you Happy Birthday or wish you Merry Christmas. No one to celebrate successes or sympathize with defeats. Alone. 

Survivors of human trafficking are often truly lonely. They have been carted to a country or a town that is not their own. And while they have been rescued from the world of their traffickers, they have been rescued into a place that they don’t know. Their friends, family, and neighbours are gone. They may have support workers that are helping them with practical needs, but to have a friend may seem to them a distant dream. 

But Embrace wants to make the dream of a friend, a reality. 

The next piece of Embrace that we are introducing is the Befriending Project. We want to link Christians in the Cardiff area that have a passion for the broken and vulnerable, to survivors of human trafficking. We hope that this friendship will begin to restore value and dignity to people that have experienced the worst aspects of human beings. We want to reintroduce them to friendship. To people that love them and don’t want to hurt, manipulate, or endanger them. To people that will take them for coffee, for dinner, to a show, or for a walk. Simple pleasures that show the Father’s heart. 

We are looking for people with the following characteristics: 

  • Passionate about loving people. 
  • Committed to and actively involved in a local church. 
  • Previous experience working with vulnerable people. 
  • Good listener. Compassionate. Reliable. Non-judgmental. Reliable.  Takes initiative. Calm. 

And the commitment level would include: 

  • Meeting up 1-2 times per week with a survivor of human trafficking.
  • Attending a Training Day on 4th of March, 2017.
  • Minimum 12 Month friendship with your Befriendee .
  • Feedback Phone Calls with Embrace Coordinator.
  • Quarterly Volunteer Training Days.

If this is something you would like to consider being involved in, please contact: Lauren@redcommunity.co.uk.

 

Dai HankeyComment