Making a Clean Start in Oxford

As Christians we promise to love our neighbour as ourselves. Sally Jarman talks to one Oxford history graduate who is so committed to fulfilling this commandment, and addressing the suffering of his fellow men, that he eschewed a ‘safe’ career path and became a window cleaner to help refugees.

You won’t find Jerry Fowler leaning on a lamppost on his window cleaning rounds. But he will teach his refugee employees who sang the famous song of that title and make sure they know whether it’s folk, pop, comic, heavy metal or otherwise.

It’s all part of Jerry’s calling to help Kurdish (and other) refugees learn a trade to help build their esteem and work themselves out of poverty.  And as they hone their skills with a squeegee they also polish up their cultural knowledge of English life; all the better to become part of their new communities.

Jerry explains: ‘The language schools in Oxford are very good, but I believe that getting a grasp of  English culture and idioms is so important for really integrating into life here.

‘I teach them proverbs as we work. If they say that it’s hard to get rid of smears I tell them that practise makes perfect, or if they drop the bucket I say that there’s no use crying over spilt milk. We listen to songs and I test them on who sang them, or what genre of music it is. It sounds basic but it makes such a difference when you want to be accepted in a strange place.’

His mission began in the mid-1990s when, he says, TV footage showed Kurdish people fleeing Saddam. Still an undergraduate; he felt called to help. He read all he could find about the Kurds, prayed for them and started to learn Kurmanji. He taught English to Kurds in Turkey for a while.

Then, with the influx of refugees to the UK he says: ‘Suddenly the Kurds were no longer up in the mountains, they were coming down the M40.’

Turning his back on ideas of becoming a solicitor, or school teacher Jerry looked around for a trade that he could learn quickly and which would be relatively easy to teach others.  The job also had to give him time to befriend his employees, talk with them, and help them further if possible. Window cleaning seemed ideal.
Word spread as helpful churches put up notices, parish newsletters ran information and his fellow worshippers at St Ebbes offered support. Three years on he now has 500 clients.

His refugee employees have included a former welder, bee keeper, teachers, and a pilot from South Africa.  All skilled people in their own country, now starting again as they try to make a go of life in the UK.
Jerry says: ‘I can see God’s hand in it. I’m totally thankful and amazed at what God has done. He promises blessings to us but often we are looking in the wrong places. He will prosper our work in caring for the poor if we channel our energies.’

Ironically, such a strong faith began when, at 17, Jerry tried to get out of  community work with school by choosing a trip away that counted towards his Duke of Edinburgh award.  There he took part in discussions about Jesus’ death on the Cross.

He smiles: ‘I was running away from caring for the poor and yet it turned out to be a turning point in my life. God took a heart of stone out of me and put in a heart of flesh.’

Despite scorn from some pupils for joining the ‘God Squad’ his faith deepened through school and then university.  As an undergraduate he had two interviews for ordination into the Anglican church, but says he realised his calling was for a more ‘hands on’ approach to helping the poorest in society; ‘reaching out to people where they are rather than asking them to come to us’.

Even more strongly, he says: ‘I had a growing conviction that God had first loved me and I must love my neighbour as myself, even if that meant looking foolish for not choosing a “safe” career path.’
His commitment since then has been total. For those who accompany him on his daily rounds Jerry says he aims ‘to be the friend who sticks closer than a brother.’

He counts himself lucky to have huge support from his own family. As we talk his wife Joy is busy caring for their young daughter while making last minute preparations for their latest trip to Turkey the next day.  Time must be short with so much to organise before they leave.  But both seem serene and cheerful, confident in their mission and, characteristically, generous with their time.

Looking to the future Jerry says he is increasingly aware of the plight of a number of people in the UK who have become Christians with the result that their families have forsaken them:

‘I’d like to offer them a way forward and to befriend them. They need so much more than a cup of coffee after church. They need a whole new family.’