Quotes about the Boaz Trust
Quotes from MP’s
“I was delighted to become a patron for the Boaz Trust, because they transform the lives of destitute asylum seekers in Greater Manchester who have been unable to access support and have nowhere else to turn to for help.” John Leech MP- (see left), Patron of the Boaz Trust.
“I was very pleased to visit Boaz Trust to learn about their work with destitute asylum seekers. It’s morally right that we should care properly for asylum seekers while they are here among us. Yet too often they receive the poorest of welcomes, facing poverty and hardship, an unfriendly bureaucracy, scepticism, and hostility. I commend Boaz for their humanity, their energy, and their commitment in offering support to the most vulnerable and destitute.” Kate Green MP.
Quotes from Clients
“Really, Boaz has helped me. Before, I had no home, no doctor, I had nothing. The Boaz staff are very helpful and kind. If I am honest, without Boaz I would maybe now be dead.” Hamed (Darfuri asylum seeker and ex-Boaz client)
“[Boaz Trust] means more than anything. I don’t have the words to say. I believe God has prepared Boaz for this work. I am still alive because of Boaz. When I think about my situation before, I was like a dead person, now I feel I am alive. I have got energy to do different things. I have got everything.” Ethiopian client
“I have been amazed with the help Boaz provides to people like me. The thought of being housed with total strangers is very frightening but what washes off the fear is the welcome the hosts give you. They don’t judge you or label you.” Kundai, asylum seeker from Zimbabwe
Quotes from Volunteers
Being at the Boaz Trust is quite honestly the best thing I have ever done. I have had the opportunity to do things I never thought I would have the privilege to do; I have prayed and held people crying in distress, I have laughed with people who haven’t so much smiled in months, I’ve seen people find their worth, I have been treated as family and I have made friends with ‘nobodies’. I have never felt so much a part of a community – it was the first thing that struck me as I stepped foot in Boaz Trust.” Beth Smith
“Working for Boaz is the best experience I am having in my life. At Boaz all the staff are very friendly and they are always helpful. Working for Boaz, you have an opportunity to make new friends, learn new skills and be able to help others, and I am so glad to have that opportunity. I am happy and I thank Boaz with the opportunity to learn something new every day. My communication skills have improved a lot and I have become more confident. I hope I can do more!” Isabel (ex-client and volunteer admin support)
“My husband and I have been Boaz hosts for nearly three years now. It has been such an incredible experience, and each person we have hosted, has added so much to our family home. We have thoroughly enjoyed learning about different cultures and having out British values sometimes very rightly challenged!! Our present Boaz guest, (who has been living with us for over a year), and our previous guest, Raza, have become very much a part of our family. With our baby due to arrive in April – we are all excited about having some more wonderful additional ‘auntie ad uncles’ around the house too! Boaz make it so easy for us to welcome people in – and we always feel supported by their team. I thoroughly recommend being a host family to anyone and everyone.” Hannah Atkins (Boaz host, and singer/songwriter)
Quotes from Other Contacts
“It has been a pleasure to work in partnership with the Boaz Trust towards the delivery of costume and dance workshops with Boaz clients for the Manchester Day Parade 2012. The Boaz staff team were professional, friendly, enthusiastic and really supported their clients to get involved with the workshops. An excellent partnership, with some fantastic artistic and social outcomes!” Katherine Rogers (Exodus Coordinator, Community Arts Northwest)
“[The work of the Boaz Trust is] beautiful and redemptive” Shane Claiborne (author of ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ and founder of The Simple Way)
“The way in which it treats those from other lands who seek its sanctuary is one of the surest hallmarks of a humane & civilised nation. Unfortunately the United Kingdom is falling down in many aspects of its duty in this regard at present, with the notable exception of organisations like the Boaz Trust, which relies on voluntary support to make good some of these national deficiencies. It deserves our gratitude and its support for what it is doing on our behalf.” Lord David Ramsbotham, GCB CBE (Independent Asylum Commissioner)
“The way in which it treats those from other lands who seek its sanctuary is one of the surest hallmarks of a humane & civilised nation. Unfortunately the United Kingdom is falling down in many aspects of its duty in this regard at present, with the notable exception of organisations like the Boaz Trust, which relies on voluntary support to make good some of these national deficiencies. It deserves our gratitude and its support for what it is doing on our behalf.” Lord David Ramsbotham, GCB CBE (Independent Asylum Commissioner)
“The Boaz Trust provides not just shelter; it gives dignity back to many men & women” Enoch Kunarajah (Project Coordinator: Enabling Christians in Serving Refugees)
“The Boaz Trust speaks for those who have no or few rights & I highly value their work” Debra Green (Director: City Links)
“Hospitality is a virtue practised by Jews, Christians & Muslims. It is a scandal that in wealthy Britain there should be people from foreign countries who experience complete destitution. Initiatives like that of the Boaz Trust deserve our wholehearted support.” Nicholas Sagovsky (Canon Theologian: Westminster Abbey)
“Those who come here in search of sanctuary from persecution, whether or not their claim is eventually successful, need to feel that while they are here they are welcome & respected. The work of the Boaz Trust is a radiant example of this. It was a pleasure, on our visit, to be confronted with so many instances of dedication, good sense, kindness, realism & humour. The work of the Trust deserves to be better known and more widely imitated.” Sir John Waite (Co-Chair of the Independent Asylum Commission)
