Upbeat Clean was created specifically to provide flexible, Real Living Wage employment for refugees who face barriers to finding suitable work. The social enterprise combines commercial cleaning with training, mentoring and meaningful employment, helping people gain experience, confidence and independence as they rebuild their lives in the UK.
With the support of Upbeat Communities and Upbeat Clean, Damaris is building a new future in Derby. Her story is a powerful reminder that rebuilding a life is about much more than finding somewhere safe to live. It is about finding community, gaining confidence, having opportunities and, ultimately, being able to provide for your family.
Leaving everything you know behind and starting again in a new country takes enormous courage. Before coming to the UK, Damaris had a life she loved in El Salvador, but that all changed when someone came to her home demanding money and threatening her family. Damaris and her husband knew they could not put their children at risk and would have to take the incredibly difficult decision to leave. Damaris had to say goodbye to her home and her family as she travelled to the UK in search of safety. After spending three months in London, she moved to Derby. But for Damaris, arriving somewhere safe was only the beginning.
From support to opportunity
Starting again in an unfamiliar country can be incredibly isolating. Damaris had left behind the people, places and routines she knew, and she was now trying to build a new life for her family. Then a friend told her about Upbeat Communities. The welcome she received made an enormous difference. Upbeat Communities supported her family with food parcels and English classes, but the impact went beyond practical help. Damaris found people who were kind, welcoming and willing to walk alongside her. “Upbeat make me feel so welcome and safe.”
As Damaris and her family settled into life in the UK, another important milestone arrived: they received permission to stay. Now Damaris could begin looking for work. But finding employment as someone who had recently arrived in the UK was not straightforward. Like many refugees, she faced the challenge of having limited UK work experience, despite having skills and experience from her life in El Salvador. That’s where Upbeat Clean comes in.
A friend told Damaris about an opportunity with Upbeat Clean. She knew that not having UK experience could make finding work difficult. But instead of focusing on what she lacked, Upbeat Clean recognised what she could contribute. “They didn’t see my weakness; they saw my potential.”
For Damaris, it was more than simply getting a job. It was an opportunity to prove herself, develop her skills and become financially independent in her new home. Damaris’s journey demonstrates what can happen when an organisation chooses to look beyond a person's circumstances and recognise their potential – and her story captures the reason Upbeat Clean exists — to create meaningful employment that helps people who have faced enormous challenges rebuild their lives with dignity and confidence.
To hear Damaris’s story in her own words, click here.