URGENT UPDATE: Time-limited matching challenge (ends Sunday 9:00 pm)

Support A Survivor of Torture provides specialist support to survivors of torture. The charity’s core programme costs approximately £100,000 per year to deliver.

This appeal represents one urgent tranche of that funding. For the next two days, all new donations will be matched pound-for-pound up by a private donor (up to a total of £20,000).

Matching closes Sunday 8th Feb at 9:00 pm

We are Anya Ayaru and George Massey, students at Westminster School, making an urgent appeal to save Support A Survivor of Torture (SAST), a small, local charity that is now under immediate threat of closure due to loss of funding.

Founded by Frances Harrison (Old Westminster) and operating out of a local church, SAST is the only centre in the UK where Tamil survivors of torture and sexual violence linked to the Sri Lankan civil war can receive support in their own language, from staff who are survivors themselves. That specificity is essential and irreplaceable.

Each week, around 60 survivors attend the centre. They receive hot meals, group counselling, English and art lessons, emergency practical help, and the chance to sit with others who understand without explanation. Many arrive profoundly isolated and traumatised; for some, the centre has been a literal lifeline.

“When I arrived, I was broken — the army hit me and tortured me. Here, for the first time, people cared for us; it was as though I could feel again. My life was filled with pain, but with Support A Survivor of Torture it has meaning.”
— Anthony, SAST client

Every former attendee has been granted asylum. Many go on to work or study; some progress into higher education, including law and mathematics. Others become business owners, returning to fund weekly lunches and support new arrivals. Several have rebuilt families, and many return year after year — not because they need help anymore, but to show those who have just arrived that recovery is possible.

“I am a victim of torture — my husband and children are still in Sri Lanka. Every week I look forward to coming here. Without Support A Survivor of Torture, I would only be crying and feeling alone.”
— Mary, SAST client

“I arrived at Support A Survivor of Torture unable to speak Tamil and ashamed of how little I knew about my own heritage. I came to teach English, but instead I learned alongside survivors — exchanging words between languages and watching people who arrived isolated and traumatised regain routine, purpose, and connection. Knowing that this place, which saves lives every week, is at risk of closing is devastating, and it must be protected.”
— Anya Ayaru, Westminster School

“At first, I was unaware of the scope of the work being done at SAST and unsure of what role I could play there. Over time, however, as I grew closer to the community that exists there, it became clear that the bonds between participants, staff, and volunteers are ones that could only be built over years of sustained care and commitment. Learning how vulnerable many participants are when they first arrive made clear the huge amount of trust that is placed in SAST. The possibility that this space, and the years of careful work that have gone into it, could be closed is devastating” – George Massey, Westminster School

As Westminster students, this matters to us personally. SAST was founded by Frances Harrison, an Old Westminster, and its history, values, and continued work are deeply intertwined with our school community. It operates locally, and we have seen first-hand how fragile charities like this are, and how devastating their loss would be. Westminster speaks of justice, responsibility, and service beyond privilege; SAST lives those values every week.

SAST is under real and immediate threat of closing.

With urgent community support, it can be saved.

Every donation, big or small, will help:

• £25 – Provides emergency food for a survivor for a week

• £112 – Covers a group counselling session by a trauma specialist

• £400 – Provides a hot meal for 50 survivors

• £1200 – Pays for up to 50 survivors to travel to the meeting space enabling them to meet in person instead of in isolation over Zoom.

Your donation will directly fund counselling, meals, language classes, and emergency support for survivors who have already endured unimaginable violence.

Please help us keep SAST alive.