Day of the Volunteer: newcomers get to work thanks to Refu Interim

At Zorggroep Heilig Hart in Kortrijk, there are about 270. Recently, the Sacred Heart started a collaboration with the non-profit organization Refu Interim so that newcomers such as Hassan Tabsho also find their way to volunteer work.

Every weekend Hassan replenishes the drinks of the residents in Woon- en Zorghotel Heilig Hart. “I like to help people,” he says. ‘I’m social and I also like to see people smile.’ Hassan lives in Ingelmunster and takes the train to Kortrijk every time.

But it doesn’t stop there. Hassan is also a volunteer at the town hall of Ingelmunster and at the town hall of Izegem. Sometimes he also teaches Dutch to non-native speakers in the library of Ingelmunster.

Refu Interim vzw not only guides refugees and asylum seekers towards voluntary work, but every newcomer who does not have Dutch as their native language. ‘The main reason is to practice their Dutch,’ says Nele Van Coillie of Refu Interim. ‘Certainly in West Flanders there is a big difference between what you learn at school and what you hear on the street. People sometimes also have to wait to follow a course or do not immediately find work and get bored. They want to make themselves useful.’

The non-profit organization is also active in Ostend and Bruges.