A Place To Call Home

You should assume the family will arrive with almost nothing, so a major contribution that a Community Sponsorship Group makes is fully furnishing, equipping and provisioning the house. 

Happily, most Groups have found that people in their wider community are only too willing to help with providing things like furniture, TVs, towels, food, cleaning products etc, either through donations or by donating money.

Decorating, cleaning and provisioning the home is a quite a task, but one that Groups usually find very rewarding and indeed great fun. It is an excellent opportunity to bond as a Group in the final stages before the family's arrival and it is likely that this stage will bring in some people into the project who haven't been so involved so far, as their skills are more practical and 'handy'. 

Below, you will find an inventory in English & Arabic.

Things to Consider...

Fitting a Douche

One specific thing you in the house that you might not have considered, is fitting douches in the bathroom/s. Many British homes are not equipped with these, but most Middle-Eastern families regard them as essential. If it is not possible to fit a douche, then place a water jug next to the toilet.

Net Curtains

Women who wear a headscarf may appreciate window coverings (such as net curtains) on external facing windows, so that they can remove this in their home. This may be important to any any family member who wants to dress more modestly in public.

Child Safety

If there are young children, you should also install a stair guard and child locks on cupboard doors

Labels & Instructions

Finally, it would be helpful to include some labels and instructions around the house. For example:

• picture instructions for how to use each appliance
• how to recycle and what days the bins go out
• wifi code
• poster with emergency contact details
• translated labels on the groceries
• no smoking signs
• fire exits

You will also see in the video below that Peckham Sponsors Refugees left a line in the hallway of welcome messages written by children from the local community, which we think is a lovely idea.