Efforts to find a home for family from war torn region
THE Road to Roundwood group are in the process of identifying accommodation so a refugee family fleeing war in the Middle East can be relocated to the scenic village.
The Road to Roundwood is a 100 per cent voluntary group set up by local people with the goal of welcoming and helping to resettle a refugee family into the locality.
The group was established around Christmas of last year after Chairperson Loraine Creane returned to Roundwood in the summer of 2019.
She said: ‘ The family we will be homing will most likely be from Syria. The war over there has been going on for so long and my heart goes out to all those people and what are going through. I was living in Kinsale but had lived in Roundwood before and returned in the summer. As a group we have received plenty of great support locally, which we are very grateful for.’
‘Covid interrupted a lot of our fundraising efforts but we had a very successful 10k event and a ‘grab a burger’ sale at the old school house. We also have a raffle planned for the not to distant future. People were also very generous with their donations. We feel we have raised enough money for the moment and now our focus is on private properties close to the village.’
Road to Roundwood was set up under the ‘Community Sponsorship Programme Ireland’, itself an initiative of the Department for Justice and Equality. It is part of the United Nations response to the Humanitarian Crisis which developed in southern Europe due to mass forced displacement of people from conflict areas, particularly in the Middle East.
A similar initiative carried out in Wicklow town resulted in the Al Sulaiman family from Syria being rehomed in 2018.
The family had escaped horrific conditions in Homs in 2013 and have been living as refugees in Lebanon before the intervention of the Wicklow Syria Appeal.
‘We have talked to the Wicklow Syria Appeal about the success of their appeal,’ said Loraine.
‘It’s now a Government initiative. The Irish Red Cross are our Regional Support Organisation, and they provide guidance and training to the members of our group. Our main focus now is to find a house.
‘We would like a property close to the village for convenience sakes. As of yet we don’t know which family we will be welcoming. It all depends on the size of the house.’
The Road to Roundwood group will also coordinate access to the State’s Social Protection services, health services and education system for children and other required training, such as the English language.
They will also provide practical and logistical support to the family and assist in any other way in welcoming the family to the local Roundwood community.