“Hosting is part of my own background”
Sheffield-based hosts Ruth and James were inspired to host by Ruth’s family history, as well as by their faiths. They say that what has united all of their guests is their diligence and determination to move on, and not be a burden.
Ruth and James are both well travelled and lived in South Korea before settling in the UK with their two sons. They are retired now from their academic careers and James is no longer a Methodist minister, although he still preaches and leads services for a number of churches.
Ruth was first inspired to host by her family history: “It’s part of my own background – my father was a refugee to this country from Hitler’s Germany in 1937. And my grandparents had a refugee from Germany staying with them at their home throughout the war, in the face of huge neighbourhood opposition.”
She and James have a spare room at the top of their house and have always offered an open door to those in need, even while they were both still working and their children were at home.
To date, Ruth and her family have hosted six guests. They include a young man from Hong Kong who eventually settled in Canada, an Iraqi who just stayed a few days, and, recently, Arif from Morocco.
Ruth, describing what unites her guests
“He was given two days’ notice to leave his hotel because the Home Office had sent his eviction notice to the wrong address. He ended up staying with us for five weeks last winter. It worked so well – we liked him a lot. He has now found himself a room in a flat in Manchester and a new job in IT, so it has ended happily. But he would have been on the streets if we hadn’t stepped in.”
Ruth speaks particularly warmly of guest Hamid from Eritrea who stayed with the couple for 18 months: “It was a lovely arrangement – one of those happy situations where he just fitted in. He used to come in and make tea, play with the dog and share family jokes. He became part of the family and he still is. Now when he emails us, he calls us ‘Dear Mum and Dad’.”
A shared determination
Although each stay has been different, Ruth says: “What has united all of my guests is that they are absolutely focussed on bettering their situation, getting work, not being beholden to anybody for anything.
“I have been so touched by their determination, and their very salutary stories about how willing they are to get employment – they are prepared to do just about anything, however difficult. One of my guests wanted to take a night shift job some distance away – it was too far away for him to commute from ours, but he was willing to sleep rough to do it.
“The thing that has struck us above everything else is how absolutely determined our guests were not to be a burden. They want to move on as quickly as possible and not be dependent either on their host family or society.
“So much of the negativity around refugees is that people are felt to be coming in and scrounging off our welfare state. I would say that’s absolutely not the case – they are an object lesson in diligence and hard work.”
