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Moez Nathu arrived in Peterborough in 1997 as an asylum seeker before going onto co-found a community hub to help others just like him.

Peterborough Asylum and Refugee Community Association (PARCA) co-founder Moez Nathu has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List.

PARCA is one the city’s foremost outreach centres that offers support to immigrants and asylum seekers once they arrive in the city.

The aim of the organisation is to give people all of the skills and confidence they need to realise their potential and become integrated into the life of the city.

Moez Nathu CEO of PARCA (right) receiving the Queens Award for Voluntary Service at Unity Hall in 2022.

PARCA helps in the region of 5-6,000 people a year on their path to integration and has offered support to people from approximately 51 nations.

From their base at Unity Hall on Northfield Road, PARCA- consisting of a team of eight- hosts English classes, a women’s group, IT classes, sewing classes, a translation service and support for coping with asylum applications as well offering general advice and support alongside help to find employment.

Mr Nathu co-founded PARCA in 2002 after arriving in the UK as as asylum seeker himself in 1997, fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He was asylum seeker in the UK between 1997 to 2004 before being granted indefinite leave to remain.

Mr Nathu has describing his entry into the UK as “a very hard time” and said that his lack of English made it “very difficult to integrate into society” especially when it came to dealing with social services. One of the main inspirations behind founding PARCA, to support others.

Recently, Mr Nathu has helped to design and launch a ‘Welcome to Peterborough’ booklet for new arrivals to offer guidance and suggest helpful contacts.

He said: “I was very excited when I heard. It is an honour to receive the recognition for the work I have been doing to help people of need in Peterborough.

“We want people to be integrated into society. We find the main barrier to that is the language so we provide English classes to stop people from feeling isolated.

“PARCA is God’s vision for me to help more people over the last 21 years.

“The goal has never changed. It is to support people in need in society and to help groups that are not funded. People come and go but we have a good record of developing the lives of people.”

PARCA also received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2022.

New Year's Honours 2023: Peterborough community hub CEO receives BEM for services to refugees and asylum seekers