Dr Last Mafuba: peer support helps with loneliness
Image: A magenta border, with a fully lit Hanukía in cyans, in white: "Eight Refugee Stories for Chanukah" and the Birmingham Progressive Synagogue logo, "celebrating Birmingham as a City of Sanctuary". Centrally on white, in cyan: Dr Last Mafuba "Meeting together, sharing our stories and peer support all helps to mitigate against.”
Last Mafuba arrived in 2010 as a refugee from Zimbabwe. In 2017 she set up Inini Initiative, a social enterprise offering all kinds of support for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants as they navigate and build a new life here in the UK. ‘We offer a weekly shared meal, advice, activities and peer support,’ says Dr Mafuba, ‘For some people, it’s the only hot meal they get each week. Meeting together, sharing our stories and peer support all helps to mitigate against loneliness.’
Dr Mafuba recently completed her PhD researching mental health needs among asylum seekers and migrants. Now she sits on Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust advisory boards and charities including Healthwatch, advising on inclusion and standards of healthcare in hospitals and beyond, for the benefit of the whole community.