Give the Gift of a Welcome: Grace’s Story
When Grace arrived in the UK, having left her career, home and elderly parents back in Hong Kong, she didn’t know where to start. Finding a church that was ready to welcome her and her family and help them become part of a community made all the difference - joining in with events and cultural activities that had been organised especially to make them feel welcome was incredible.
In July 2021, Grace moved to the UK with her husband and three children from Hong Kong. Moving to a new nation is always a journey of discovery, a process of learning and unlearning. It’s never easy to settle in a place you are unfamiliar with, not to mention the language and cultural barriers and mental health challenges.
Life in the UK sometimes feels like a series of tests: the driving theory test, the practical driving test... later, the English language test, and finally the ‘Life in the UK’ test. It can at times feel like you are back at school!
For Grace, the hardest test was finding a home for a family with three children. Even when Grace managed to find a house, her eldest daughter’s journey to school was quite a challenge. She wasn’t offered a place at the nearest school for over six months. During that period, she had to travel to take two buses to get to school each morning.
Grace discovered her current church while still searching for a house; because she didn’t drive, it was a conscious decision to live close to a church community she could be part of.
“We first joined this church in August 2021. I still remember when the worship was held in the garden because of Covid19!”
The church community has been extremely welcoming towards Grace and her family; one of them even offers them a lift to go shopping almost every week as she knows both Grace and her husband do not drive. They have taught the family English, invited them for various activities such as tea, a housewarming party and bonfire night so that they can be introduced to British culture.
Last Christmas, they had the privilege of turning on the Christmas lights in Thatcham and were invited to a Christmas party for people from Hong Kong. The church is quite international with people from many different places. Recently, there have even been Cantonese translations on screen during Sunday worship!
‘How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!’
- Psalm 133:1
UKHK
“When we were still in Hong Kong my husband first heard about UKHK as a project working with churches to provide assistance to people from Hong Kong. We attended the Reading Friendship Festival run by UKHK in May 2022. It is so great to have an event in the UK that was especially organised for people from Hong Kong. This was such a community-wide party where we could meet many Hong Kong people, try the food we missed and play games.
I am thankful for the welcome we have received and for the opportunity to be able to live and work here. No matter how I feel about the experience, there’s always something to learn from a move like this. Trying not to compare and always being thankful for everything greatly helped me to settle in this country.”
Welcome Churches launched UKHK, a network of Hong Kong Ready Churches, following the announcement of the UK Government's British National (Overseas) visa scheme in February 2021. This year, our UKHK project has run Friendship Festivals across the UK, with over 8000 people joining in the fun and festivities. Over 1000 people have taken part in the Welcome Course, a six-part course providing insights into British life and community to BN(O) visa holders, and 20,000 Welcome Magazines have been gifted to primary school-age children arriving from Hong Kong.
Donate today, and give the Gift of a Welcome this Christmas to help Welcome Churches provide more projects, like UKHK, to be there to provide care and support to new arrivals to the UK.
