Oasis Cardiff

The main aim of Oasis Cardiff is to aid asylum seekers and refugees integrate within their local community.
Oasis Cardiff encourages integration within the local community. They are eager to learn about the different cultures and traditions.

What does Oasis Cardiff do?

The main aim of Oasis Cardiff is to aid asylum seekers and refugees integrate within their local community. 

Oasis Cardiff encourages integration within the local community. They are eager to learn about the different cultures and traditions. The clients at Oasis Cardiff inspire staff and volunteers with their cultures and traditions. They support around 100-150 visitors every day, from all around the world including countries like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, El Salvador and Ivory Coast and many more. Some of the visitors have been in Cardiff for a few years and some have only just arrived, they visit Oasis to socialise with other people who have made it to the UK. They run various classes each week that are open to asylum seekers and refugees. Here are a few of the classes that are run weekly, women-only sessions and groups, art classes, English language classes, sports sessions, daily advisory sessions, advocacy forums and relaxation sessions. Oasis Cardiff runs many different sessions and classes and the ones named above are just a handful of them. Oasis Cardiff offers free lunch every weekday, which is guaranteed to be enjoyed. 

Outside of the centre, Oasis Cardiff regularly organises cultural and sports trips in and around Wales, these trips can include anything from museums and art galleries to team sport activities and peak mountain challenges.

Oasis Cardiff are inclusive within the local and wider communities, they run regular community events such as a weekly Home Supper Club, this includes a dish from a different part of the world. Many of these dishes would have been introduced to the community and the centre from the clients at Oasis Cardiff. 

The Impact Oasis Cardiff Make

Oasis Cardiff offers a variety of support to clients and the community. The services they offer are always changing to ensure they can provide all assistance needed, some of this include weekly free meals that are healthy and nutritious - to help in completion of college applications. They provide a wide range of access to health care services for both physical and mental health, and allow their clients and wider community to learn new skills to set them on their path of employment and living independently in the area. All of these factors make them an incredible tool to service users and they take great pride in the fact that their ongoing support and constant activities can help those in need to live a healthy, happy life and well set on their way to a positive and fulfilled future.

What you can do to help Oasis Cardiff

There are a number of ways you can help Oasis Cardiff, you can fundraise and donate. You could do something that you love doing or something that you have never done before. Fundraising for Oasis Cardiff is simple, just set up an online fundraiser page, and grab some information about them and what they do. Oasis Cardiff are happy for the public to use text, photos and videos from their website to help with your fundraising. In the past there have been many fundraisers, people use pages such as just giving, easy fundraising, go fund me, crowd funder and facebook. 

Fundraising can be more successful when you involve yourself in the activity. Here are just a few examples of what we and others have done in the past to fundraise: Cardiff half marathon, Newport marathon, climbing mountains such as Everest and Kilimanjaro, photography studio days, Live music events, Bake sales, and face painting/ family fun days.

All funds raised help us to support the community, refugees and asylum seekers. 
Client stories

Mohammed’s Story: From Kabul to Cardiff 

Mohammed is now sat in the Oasis Garden ready to tell his story about his journey from Kabul to Cardiff. Mohammed begins his story on a night in Kabul when a group of people took his father. He remembers that ‘it was very scary.’ Mohammed goes on to describe how he tried to help his father and the consequences: ‘they hit a gun on my right leg’ and it broke. Mohammed talks about hoping his father would return but he never did. His uncle tried to find the body but there was ‘no chance’. Mohammed was not alone. Many people remember family members being taken never to be seen again. ‘It is sad, Taliban, or people like that, they’re not joking.’ It was this uncle who said, ‘it is not safe.’ And suggested Mohammed should leave. First, he went to Iran. His mother and younger brother joined him later. Mohammed says he will never forget the day he left Kabul, ‘my mother crying, and it was a sad day, but sometimes you don’t have a choice.’ Mohammed then went from Iran to Turkey, Turkey to Greece, Greece to Italy, Italy to Austria, Austria to France, then France to the UK. ‘It was a really hard time.’ He elaborates on why it was hard; sometimes he did not have anything to eat or drink and people’s behaviour could be fuelled by negative emotions. Close to Italy, Mohammed was discovered in a lorry and his arm was injured by officials. He says, ‘I can’t even take a cup of tea, it’s really painful.’ He says their behaviour was ‘very different’ and that the behaviour of border officials improved in Greece. Mohammed touches on other people, describing how some police helped refugees, providing food, water, and clothes. He also describes how refugees would be living in the parks, with no home to go to. They spent their time looking after their small children. ‘Sometimes I think it’s like a dream. ’Mohammed often reflects on his journey, comparing it to a dream, owing to the difficulty and surrealness of the journey. Now he describes how happy he is in the UK. ‘Now it is very good, I have my job, my family, my wife and it’s safe, very safe all the time.’ Mohammed emphasises how safe it is, reiterating this to his sister all the time. He praises the police here too. Comparing the police here to be ‘like friends’ and make him feel ‘very comfortable’. Whereas in other countries where Mohammed has been, he highlights how scared the police make people feel. His final sentence, said with a smile on his face, ‘I’m very comfortable here.’

Joseph's Story

Joseph is a refugee from the Ivory Coast. In 2011 moved from the Ivory Coast to Morocco and was a refugee there for 6 years. Joseph had to flee the Ivory Coast because of the outbreak of war and rebellion. Joseph was very vocal about his political views to the point that he released a rap song under the artist name ‘Pep Cocktail’. Because of how vocal he was about his political views he could not return to the Ivory Coast. A war broke out in Morocco so Joseph had to flee again, this time he applied for a VISA and flew to Woking where he had friends to stay with. He applied for asylum in Feb 2018 and was shortly moved from Croydon and then to Cardiff.