Refugee Stories

These stories are deep existential sighs. The strangers among us lack not only a place but also a means of sustaining life. Listening to their lament with a compassionate heart will hopefully move us towards becoming a community of blessings in which our hospitality, skills and companionship will reconfigure both of our worlds.

Dave Smith is one of those inspirational people who make a real and lasting difference to the lives of those who meet them. He is not afraid to take up the causes of those who are most marginalised, yet he is never bowed down by the many desperate stories he hears. You don't have to share his deep Christian faith to admire his work, but it is that faith which is his strength and his motivation. In this book he invites us, with his customary warmth and compassion, to go with him to the world of just a small sample of those he has met as founder of the Boaz Trust. It's a journey well worth taking.

Dave Smith's book is both challenging and insightful and is essential reading if you want to get a deeper understanding of how refugees make the decision to leave their homes and families and how they cope when their applications for protection in the UK are rejected and they are left destitute. Perhaps its greatest achievement is allowing the reader to see the seven protagonists as ordinary people who are struggling to rebuild their lives in the most difficult of circumstances, rather than as statistics, victims, or the subjects of tabloid headlines.

There is no better way to understand the world of refugees than to hear their stories in their own words. This book is gripping reading. I thoroughly recommend it.

Storytelling is empowering, releasing; it builds bridges, makes connections and brings healing for the teller and the listener. It has been hijacked by soulless decision making processes within the asylum system and we need to recapture its magic. Dave Smith has the track record, the respect, the dedication and the storytelling gift to bring these stories together, and to present these extraordinary and courageous lives in detail, which demands attention. I commend this work very highly; be ready to be stretched and to feel you have to do something.