Quakers mark Refugee Week
‘You, me and those who came before.’ Friends marked Refugee Week with a variety of events
The annual Refugee Week got off to a good start when the government announced that the UK will resettle 5,000 of the world’s most vulnerable refugees in the first year of a new scheme. As Quakers prepared themselves for a lively week of action, sanctuary campaigners congratulated each other after the Home Office pledged to continue to resettle thousands of refugees under the new scheme starting in 2020.
Running from 17-23 June, this year’s Refugee Week centred on the theme of: ‘You, me and those who came before.’
Glasgow Quakers marked the occasion with a Refugee Festival drama workshop at their Meeting house on 29 June, while Derby Friends hosted a ‘Home from Home?’ event on 14 June, welcoming refugees to the city with talks, films and refreshments.
Barbara Grundey, of Derby Meeting, said: ‘The refugees read poetry in their mother tongue which sounded melodic and beautiful: an evocative reminder of how all too often refugees have not only lost their family and their home, they have lost their voices too.’
The Meeting was presented with an award from the Derby City of Sanctuary group, recognising its good sanctuary work. Local Friend Sarah Wall said: ‘We thought the event was a good way of making people aware of the situation around refugees and making it a more all-Meeting effort.’
Wells-next-the Sea Meeting also held two events, including a poetry workshop in which the group leader, Aylsham Friend Bob Ward, said poems could witness Quakers’ concern to the world. Ten people also gathered at a library event to share refugees’ stories of and to explore the book, A Country to Call Home. Norfolk Friend Gillian Smith said: ‘We spoke about the other words and phrases used for people who have left their homes to seek another place.’
The Peace Hub, the Quaker Peace and Justice Centre in Birmingham, also paid tribute to the generations of refugees who came to the city, including: Belgian refugees in the first world war, Jewish children in the 1930s via Kindertransport, and Polish refugees following the second world war. It also teamed up with the Peacemakers organisation to hold Junior Peacemakers workshops in primary schools called ‘A Sense of Belonging – Welcoming Refugees and Asylum Seekers’. Meanwhile, pupils from the Quaker Bootham School in York contributed to the Giant Doll’s House installation at the V&A’s Museum of Childhood, a collaborative arts project in London for Refugee Week and the London Festival of Architecture. The house, with more than 100 rooms, each made by pupils, Syrian refugees, and charity shops volunteers, is the result of workshops led by architect Catja de Haas in UK schools and a Jordan refugee camp. They were facilitated by Oxfam, as part of its Stand As One campaign.
Chris Jeffery, headteacher at Bootham School, said: ‘Working on it has given [our pupils] a real insight into the experience of refugee children.’
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