Every Tuesday afternoon, people from across St Helens and beyond gather at St Helens Minster for Café Laziz. There is a different menu each week, prepared by migrant volunteers, but the reason people keep coming back is not just the food.
The cafe gives refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants the chance to practise their English and meet people from the local community. It is entirely volunteer-run, with proceeds supporting asylum seekers in the community. Each week, migrant volunteers prepare food from a different culture and host tables, sharing the food and talking with guests.
On this most recent occasion, the menu was Kurdish, with Fasolya and Bryane being served across the room. Around 10 people sat at each table, including local residents from St Helens, migrant volunteers and a volunteer from St Helens Minster who supports its interfaith work.
One of the hosts was a Kurdish woman who had fled Syria. As she shared the food and talked about her life, she spoke about her life in the UK and the opportunities she now has, including being able to pursue education or a career. She also talked about the opportunities available to her children and said that she no longer lives with the fear she experienced before coming to the UK.
From practising English to making friends
For some of those attending, Café Laziz has become a place to make friendships that continue beyond the cafe.
Alsadig, who is originally from Sudan, joined in June to improve his English. He said his English has improved significantly since then and that he enjoys trying food from different cultures each week.
He has also made friends with an English couple he met through the cafe who have become his travel buddies. They recently travelled together to Formby beach, turning a friendship made around a cafe table into a day out together.
For Emma Bamber, CEO of the Laziz Project, these relationships are an important part of what Café Laziz offers.
“Food brings people together,” she said. “People form connections and move away from isolation.”
Emma said that people who are new to the UK can face significant isolation, particularly when they are trying to navigate a new culture and language. The cafe gives people somewhere to meet others, practise English and share something of their own culture.
“It empowers people to share a piece of their culture,” Emma said.
Supporting people from the moment they arrive
The Laziz Project began in 2019 as a small charity run by a group of Syrian women. It has since grown into a wider asylum support service, with case support workers helping with practical needs such as SIM cards, clothing and food.
Alongside Café Laziz, the organisation runs a catering and delivery service, which grew during the Covid pandemic and continues to provide an important source of income.
Emma said the project is also about challenging misconceptions about refugees and people seeking asylum.
“We’re on a journey to humanise people,” she said. “There are so many misconceptions about people seeking asylum. People don’t always know who they are, what their lives are like or what they have to offer until they meet them for themselves.”
The cafe gives migrants an opportunity to contribute and share their culture with the wider community.
“It empowers people to share a piece of their culture,” Emma said.
The project takes a holistic approach to supporting people from the moment they arrive in the UK, combining practical help with opportunities to build relationships and become part of their community.
A visit from the Archbishop of York
Among those visiting Café Laziz on Tuesday was the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell. He took time to speak with people around the tables, learning their names and hearing about their experiences before joining his own group.
By then, the cafe was already well underway, with people sharing food, practising their English and catching up with friends. His visit was another part of an afternoon centred around the simple act of people meeting one another.
For Emma, there is one thing she would most want people to understand about the people the project supports.
“It’s critical to understand we’re all humans,” she said.
Plan your visit to Cafe Laziz
To learn more about the cafe, see the upcoming menu, or to discover other social justice initiatives done by the team, visit this link.
