Refuge in St Davids

Alan York writes about a Quaker initiative to help refugees and asylum seekers

St Davids Quakers have taken advantage of the surroundings in which they live to set up weekends for asylum seekers and refugees in this west Wales holiday centre.

People from Syria who have been accommodated in Swansea after fleeing the war zone are welcomed into the city of St Davids for a relaxing few days away from the stresses of refugee life.

Using the Old Court House, with its twenty-three beds, three or four families have come to enjoy the city, the coast and each other’s company from Friday to Sunday on two occasions in the last ten months. Another such weekend took place at the end of February.

This all followed the visit by a refugee worker in Swansea to South Wales Area Meeting in St Davids, when she spoke of the plight of people living in some isolation after suffering the trauma of the war. She suggested that weekend breaks in St Davids would be a tonic, and local Quakers have cooperated with the City Council, the cathedral, local chapels, and the local community to make it happen.

Arriving early on Friday evening our visitors are greeted with a welcoming meal provided by local people. Then, while mums and dads organise the accommodation, the children play in the sitting room. We simply put a large pile of Lego onto the sitting room carpet and they dive in. Local children come in and all play together.

On Saturday there are optional trips to Whitesands beach, to St Davids Cathedral and round the city, again with a gathering together of refugee and local children for games and tea at the Education and Pilgrimage Centre. Everything over the weekend is optional.

In the evening some of our visitors cook a Syrian meal for everyone, and then a couple of local musicians come in to join our visitors in putting on a joint music and song session. On one occasion a fifteen-year-old Syrian boy performed a rap about the sadness of war. It was very moving.

On Sunday morning a guide from Pembrokeshire Coast National Park takes us to see the cliffs and paths along the coast, including the Blue Lagoon, where cliff diving takes place. Again, local parents and children join us to enjoy the company of our visitors and learn about their experience.

Our visitors tell us that they really value the chance to get together in a relaxed setting and spend time talking to each other.

Then, early on Sunday afternoon, with many hugs and goodbyes it’s back to Swansea in the minibuses; and St Davids is left to reflect on the experience, understanding more clearly perhaps the plight in which millions of people now find themselves.

Maybe other Local or Area Meetings could do something like this, perhaps through an arrangement with organisations involved in helping refugees and asylum seekers in their local region of the UK.

We have certainly found that joining with our visitors in a relaxed weekend helps everyone concerned to better understand the humanity of all. If it helps our visitors a little, as they say it does, then that is all to the good.

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