Thanks to our 12 month partnership with HostNation (a national refugee befriending charity), IPC is now running a unique new project on Teesside, promising to bring social opportunities and friendship to refugees and asylum seekers.

The idea behind it is that befrienders sign up online and get ‘matched’ with a refugee or asylum seeker who lives in the region, based on their shared interests.

“I remember only too well the disorienting feeling of isolation, not knowing where I was or anything about the area when I arrived in Middlesbrough over 20 years ago,” said Bini Araia, founder of IPC and a former asylum seeker from Eritrea.