“A Refugee is…” – The Refugee Dictionary

         

UK for UNHCR Trustee Mevan Babakar, who was a refugee from the Gulf war in the 1990s

 

What does the word “refugee” mean to you? 

 

For Maya Ghazal, a Syrian refugee and a pilot, “A refugee is a human being with hopes and dreams like everyone else. A refugee can be anyone, like a pilot flying your plane – a pilot like me!”

 

And for actor David Morrissey, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, ”A refugee is “a boy who had to give up his childhood to provide for his family.”

 

What is it for you? 

To mark the 70th anniversary of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, on 28 July, UK for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s UK charity, is asking Britons to help compile a dictionary that will define only one word – “refugee” – but in thousands of different personal, emotive and thought-provoking ways. 

 The (physical) dictionary with its 1000s definitions of the term “refugee” will be unveiled on 28 July, the day, 70 years ago, when the convention first legally defined the term ‘refugee’ in universal terms and outlined the rights and obligations of women, men and children fleeing the horrors of war and persecutions to seek safety in another country.

Since then, the word refugee has taken on countless personal meanings, so “The Refugee Dictionary” aims to remind us of the rich tapestry of stories and futures made possible because of this significant human rights convention - and celebrate and encourage the UK’s proud tradition of giving refuge by inviting the public to join in.

 

It is hoped the project will bring thousands of new meanings to the word and highlight that refugees aren’t confined or defined by one word, but are individuals with myriad rich stories, hopes and lives.

 

UK for UNHCR is encouraging everyone to take part, from those who have sought refuge in the UK or people whose family members were refugees, to those who simply want to celebrate the positive role of refugees in their communities and to the country.

 

You can enter your definition until July 12^th here. 

 

Hear Us – How refugee and asylum-seeking women experienced the pandemic

“Being destitute during a pandemic is the worst feeling ever. It makes you feel like you are just a box and if someone wanted to kick you, they could. It’s not easy relying on other people for food and shelter and it has caused me a lot of mental health issues,” says Edna (not her real name), who is living with no statutory support and relying on charities for her survival in Liverpool.


Edna is one of 115 refugee and asylum-seeking women in the UK who have shared their experiences during the pandemic for ‘Hear Us’, a new report by Sisters Not Strangers, a coalition of eight organisations. 

Most of these women have already fled violence and abuse. During the pandemic, they became more vulnerable: three quarters of them went hungry, a fifth of them were homeless, and most of them said that their mental health got worse, according to the report. 


The government’s research on the impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities found that Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women are almost three times more likely to die from COVID-19, compared to white women. The intersection of gender, race and immigration status, coupled with the trauma of their past experiences, means that asylum-seeking women are among those BAME women most affected by the consequences of the outbreak.


With charities closed, women have been unable to access meals and small hardship payments that have become so crucial both for women within the asylum system, who live in poverty, and women refused asylum, who are so often left destitute.


Three quarters of the women surveyed went hungry, including mothers who struggled to feed their children. A third of women were at high risk from coronavirus, reporting a serious health condition such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes. While the government emphasised social distancing, a fifth of women were homeless, relying on temporary arrangements with community members, and moving from one house to another. Self-isolation was impossible for the 21% of women who were forced to sleep in the same room as a non-family member. Frequent handwashing was a serious challenge for the 32% of women who struggled to afford soap and other hygiene products. A fifth of staff and volunteers had supported women who were trapped in unwanted or abusive relationships during the pandemic. 

Lo Lo (not her real name), an asylum-seeking woman who was homeless in London during lockdown says, “I have serious health conditions that mean it would be particularly dangerous for me to catch the virus. For a week during lockdown, I slept on buses. I went from one side of London to the other, because it was free to travel on the bus then.”

“Previous research has established that almost all women who seek asylum in the UK are survivors of gender-based violence. Even before this crisis, we have seen how they are forced into poverty and struggle to find safety,” says Natasha Walter, director of Women for Refugee Women.  “During the pandemic they have too often been left without basic support including food and shelter. It is now vital that we listen to these women and ensure that we build a fairer and more caring society.” 

In exposing deep structural inequalities along existing fault-lines of gender, race, citizenship and class, the pandemic is testing our society. We cannot simply return to normal, the report concludes. “We must seize this opportunity to build back better, and to create a society centred on solidarity and human dignity in which the lives of women seeking asylum, and women of colour, are fully valued.”

The Sisters Not Strangers coalition includes Coventry Asylum and Refugee Action Group, Development and Empowerment for Women’s Advancement (Sheffield), Oasis Cardiff, Refugee Women Connect (Liverpool), Swansea Women’s Asylum and Refugee Support Group, Women Asylum Seekers Together Manchester, Women for Refugee Women (London) and Women with Hope (Birmingham)

Magdas Hotel - a hotel like no others

credit: KirchgasserPhotography

 If you go to Vienna, try to stay at the wonderful magdas Hotel. The hotel, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year, is staffed largely by refugees. It is the first social business hotel in Austria, but around the country and elsewhere, others are following suit.

At first glance, it looks like any other European hotels. Only a lone suitcase by the door and framed portraits of various sizes on the wall allude to its story.

The 78-room hotel is staffed by 20 refugees from countries such as Syria, Iran, Somalia and Chechnya, and 15 professionals of the hotel sector. Like in many countries, people with a refugee background have a hard time finding work in Austria. Initial lack of German language skills, the resentment of many employers, as well as the fact that refugees are only allowed to accept work after receiving a positive response to an asylum application (which can often take months or years) make integration difficult.

Located between the green Prater and the Danube Canal, the hotel was founded six years ago by the Caritas charity as a social business to give refugees professional opportunities. Most stay for around two years, gaining skills before moving on to a ‘regular’ hotel. 

Collectively, magdas staff represent 16 nationalities and speak 23 languages, so that guests are almost always greeted in their own language. Their many skills, talents, languages and cultural backgrounds allow for the hotel to have a special position in the hospitality market.

The budget hotel is a former retirement home, transformed through €56,000 crowdfunded and a €1.5 million loan from Caritas, with help from local designers from the nearby Academy of Arts. The hotel furnishings are donated, up-cycled or recycled, so each room has its unique quirky character. The hotel also hosts  sustainable initiatives, such as the harvesting of honey from beehives on the roof.

With its seminar and meeting rooms,  bar area, terrace and garden, magdas functions like every other hotels and many guests are unaware of its true nature, but its focus is not to maximise profit - rather to help refugee integrate and build bridges between communities.

Magdas (“mag das”) is a German wordplay, essentially suggesting that you should “like this.” And people seem to agree as the hotel is rated very good and excellent on booking sites.

If you get a chance to stay there, let me know what you think.

Britons amongst most supportive of refugees’ right to seek asylum

Contrary to what many might believe, British people are among the most supportive of the fundamental right of refugees to seek refuge – including in their own country - to escape war or persecution. Seven in ten (72%) agree that people should have this right (compared with 61% globally), according to a new Ipsos global study. These findings are rather heart-warming in the actual political landscape where immigration has been such a loaded issue.

The study, conducted to mark World Refugee Day, finds that a majority across 26 countries believes that people should have the right to seek refuge – including in their own country - from war or persecution.  Those in Latin American countries are more likely to agree (Argentine 74%, Chile 73% and Peru 70%) than those in Europe (Hungary and France 43%, Belgium 50% and Germany.)

However, the survey, conducted online among adults aged under 74, finds that broader opinions towards refugees still include some negative attitudes, and there are some signs that they could even be hardening compared with two years ago, although this is less the case in Britain. 

Kully Kaur-Ballagan, Research Director at Ipsos MORI says: “These findings show that Brits are very compassionate about people’s fundamental right to seek refuge from war and persecution and they are among the least likely globally to want to close the borders to refugees.  However, in practice there is widespread concern about people taking advantage of the system and the public remains relatively divided over the extent to which refugees will successfully integrate into their new society.” 

It is clear that countries’ policies and the number of refugees arriving in each country have a direct impact on people’s perceptions, but I am wondering whether the media are also playing an important role in molding people's attitudes?

Half of Brits are skeptical that many refugees are genuine. Those most likely to doubt the authenticity of refugees coming into their country are in India (70%), Turkey (69%) and South Africa (66%), while those among the least likely to question whether refugees are genuine are in Canada (45%) Spain (45%), Brazil (40%).

Brits are relatively divided over whether refugees will integrate successfully into their new society; 45% agree they will integrate compared with 38% who disagree.  Countries that are most optimistic about refugees successfully integrating into their new society are India (68%), Argentina (58%) and Saudi Arabia (55%).  Those most likely to disagree that refugees will successfully integrate are in South Korea (67%), Sweden (64%) and Turkey (63%).

Brits are also more positive about welcoming in refugees than the global average with just over half of Britons (54%) disagreeing that the country’s borders should be closed to refugees (46% globally) compared with a third (33%) who think that borders should be closed at this time (40%).  These figures have seen little change since 2017.

Countries where views have hardened most about closing their borders since 2017 include Mexico and Peru, which have both seen an increase in people seeking asylum from neighbouring countries according to UNHCR.  In Serbia agreement has also increased 13 points from 38% to 51%. In contrast, the desire to see their borders closed has fallen in Hungary (down 17 points from 61% to 44%) and Poland (down 6 points from 45% to 39%) – perhaps reflecting the hard-line stance the Polish and Hungarian governments have taken on restricting entry to refugees.

Emma Harrison, CEO, IMiX – migration communications hub says: 

“We know Britain welcomes refugees because every day we hear stories of kindness and of welcome. Concerns about integration are real but they could easily be resolved by government investment in English lessons for new arrivals and enabling people to work while their asylum claim is being processed.

“More than anything, refugees want to build a new life for themselves and their families - having made their perilous journey here and having lost so much already. We also know that people don’t make the decision to leave their home lightly -far from it. These decisions are made when the bombs are dropping on your city, when soldiers are storming your hospitals and schools, when you are being persecuted because of your sexuality or your beliefs.  When you are not safe in your own home it makes sense to move – and here in Britain we respond more often than not with friendship and compassion.”

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A Taste of Home - When meals in refugee camps mean more than food

A hot meal in a refugee camp is always welcome, but in Obrenovac and other refugee camps in Serbia, a meal is also a portal to the home and loved ones left behind by the refugees and migrants who live in limbo in camps.

“Kookoo Sibzamini [potato patties] is what I had in my backpack when I left home. My sister made them for me for the road. I told myself I need to save them for later when it gets tough. But I ate them all. I don’t think they even got cold,” says Mohsen from Iran.

Moshen’s favourite dish is one of seven popular healthy, homely recipes cooked in refugee camps in Serbia, which were provided by the refugees themselves.  Oxfam, which is serving meals at the Obrenovac camp 30km south-west of the capital Belgrade, along with Care and CaritasEuropa, had run a survey asking refugees and migrants what they wanted to eat.  The refugees came up with a lot of suggestions, but many also offered recipes from their own countries. Now, instead of the usual breaded fish and vegetable curry, Obrenovac and several other camps are serving traditional dishes from Afghanistan, Syria, India, Iran and Pakistan.

Oxfam asked an illustrator to make colourful and easy to read recipe cards for seven of the recipes. The cards also include recollections from some of the refugees: where the recipe came from, who first cooked it for them, the last time they ate it, etc.  For example, Gjulan from India (Kashmir) says that the smell of Gajar Matar ki Sabzi, a spicy stew now cooked at the camps, instantly transports him home. “When me and my brothers would come back from school my mother would be by the stove cooking the stew, dancing along with the music from TV. In my mind, it is still like this back home: music ad the smells of cooking.”

“Refugees’ life is hard,” says Ali who came from Pakistan, “but when I sit with people and eat at the dinner table, I am very happy.”

Most refugees in the camps have been in Serbia for over a year and have attempted to cross the border into neighbouring countries such as Bosnia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary - and been turned back. They are trying to reach other countries in Europe, either to claim asylum, reunite with family members or to find work.

In 2017, there were nearly 4,000 migrants in Serbia, of which 89% are housed in camps.

The kindness of strangers: exhibition celebrating solidarity towards refugees

Museum With A Home at the School Life and Education Museum in Athens

I’ve been working with Oxfam on a story celebrating the kindness and solidarity of ordinary people towards the men, women and children who are seeking peace and sanctuary in Europe.

It’s a story of the Museum Without A Home, a touring exhibition showcasing every-day objects that ordinary people have donated to refugees to make them feel more welcome. 

I loved this project: it’s such a creative and beautiful way to remind people that refugees are people like us, to celebrate those who are trying to make them feel a bit more at home in their host countries – and to encourage other people and governments to follow suit and support dignity and safety for all.

After touring in various cities across Europe, including Leicester and Cambridge, the exhibition was supposed to come to London and be displayed at City Hall and Parliament, then move on to Oxford and Cardiff. But because of the sex scandal which engulfed Oxfam, the plans had to be cancelled. Oxfam was hoping for lots of media coverage and support from MPs, NGOs and members of the public. It was not to be. But Positive News still agreed to run a short piece on it and I wanted to tell a bit about the Museum here too:

A cooking pot, a pair of running shoes, coloured crayons, a skipping rope. These are some of the everyday objects that have been ‘exhibited’ in the Museum Without A Home. The touring exhibition, which can be viewed online here, celebrates acts of kindness by ordinary people towards the men, women and children who are seeking peace and sanctuary in Europe. 

The museum was originally created by the Greek section of Amnesty International and Oxfam to acknowledge the solidarity of the Greek people towards refugees. Organisers also hope to call on people – including political leaders – worldwide to support dignity and safety for all.

In autumn of 2016, the entire city of Athens was transformed into a  “museum” showcasing real objects that residents donated to refugees to make them feel welcome. Each object was accompanied by personal testimonies of the people who donated the objects and the people who received them.

Next to the photo of a board game reads the caption: “Stelios lives in Piraeus. When his school teacher proposed to the class to collect toys for the kids in the port of Piraeus, Stelios offered one of his favourite board games. He then found out that the game had reached the hands of Ishmael, a boy his age.”

Accompanying an image of a kettle reads the caption: “Vasso lives and works in Konitsa. Mafida from Syria is being hosted in the same region. When the two women met, Vasso offered a water kettle to Mafida so that she can easily heat water to wash her baby.”

Since 2016, the exhibition has travelled to Belfast, New York, Belgrade and Canada, as well as Leicester and Cambridge. Since it came to the UK, organisers displayed alongside the Greek objects several items that have been donated by the British public. Among them were a cooking pot and a quilt sewn by people from Witney, Oxfordshire, who hope to sponsor a family from Syria.

“This is a celebration of small acts of welcome and generosity, that make all the difference to refugees as they rebuild their lives in the UK,” said Sally Copley, Oxfam’s head of policy, programmes and campaigns. “We are calling on the government to extend its own hand of welcome by allowing refugees to reunite with their families in the UK.”

Global study shows unease about immigration around the world – but Britain is more positive

From Argentina, Australia, Belgium and China to Britain, Hungary, India, South Korea and the United States, most people believe that immigration is increasing and has had a negative impact on their country.

New data from the Ipsos Global @dvisor survey shows very clearly that immigration remains a major global concern.   The survey, conducted among online adults aged under 65 in 25 countries across the world, reveals that people are twice as likely to think that immigration is bad for their country than think it is good, and twice as likely to agree than disagree that there are too many immigrants in their country and that this is changing their country in ways they don’t like. 

Most countries are also concerned about immigration placing pressure on public services.

And there is a sense that the issue is increasing: three-quarters think there are more immigrants than 5 years ago.

 But there are huge differences between individual countries, and significant change in views in some.  Surprisingly, Britain’s view on immigration has increased positively since 2011. We are now the third most likely country to say that immigration has a positive impact on us, behind only Saudi Arabia and India – with 40% saying immigration is positive, up from only 19% in 2011. 

On the other hand, Turkey, Italy, Hungary and Serbia are most negative with at least three in five (58%) saying it has had a negative impact.

The more positive attitude of Britain toward immigration surprised me as the media coverage around this issue has been rather relentlessly negative, especially in the context of Brexit.

But Bobby Duffy, Managing Director of Ipsos Social Research Institute, says: “This may be explained by both those who had positive views being encouraged to express them more following Brexit, but also those who supported leaving the EU being reassured that we’ll have more control in the future.”

As the refugee crisis continues, the Ipsos research also shows that a narrow majority still believe they should keep their borders open to refugees, however many still have serious security concerns.

Refugee Exhibition: "Claiming a New Place on Earth"

If you are in London this week, please come and see our exhibition “Claiming a New Place on Earth” at Protein Studios in Shoreditch, London.  Through photographs and interviews, photographer Caroline Irby and I have recorded the journey of 10 refugees or asylum seekers aged 18-24, who arrived in the UK as minors and are now coming of age in this country. 

How is it to grow up in an Afghan village with no water and no electricity, then to find yourself alone in London at 18, not speaking a word of English?

How does it feel when life is passing you by, when you cannot get your driving license, go to university or get a job because you are waiting for your papers?

Thousands of teenagers arrive in the UK every year seeking asylum. Many have missed out on education and have been scarred by war and by having to leave their home countries.  In the UK, they have to navigate complex systems to get the support they need. Yet, they are also young people with talent, pride, aspirations and dreams.

The young refugees are from Syria, Ivory Coast, Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ukraine and Uganda. They talk about the life they have left behind and their new experiences in this country - the hurdles and challenges they are facing, especially around the asylum and education systems - as well as their dreams and aspirations for the future.  They were photographed in the context of their dream job. 

The portraits and interviews are part of the exhibition “Claiming a New Place on Earth” at Protein Studios in London, Oct. 10-15 (the title is from Lesbos 2015  by poet Ruth Padel). The exhibition was commissioned and curated by Breaking Barriers (BB), a wonderful charity helping refugees to find meaningful employment.

Caroline and I have worked together on a number of humanitarian stories overseas – particularly in Africa and Asia - and in the UK.   We have a keen interest in refugee issues because we have seen some of the causes that trigger people to flee their homes. We wanted to meet some of the young refugees who have settled here to learn what propelled them to move so far, and to hear about their experiences of trying to make a new life here.  And, at a time when Brexit negotiations are pressing on and immigration is such a loaded topic, we wanted to let some young refugees tell their own stories in their own words.

This is our second collaboration with Breaking Barriers. Last year, Breaking Barriers’ exhibition portrayed refugees at the place where they first felt free or safe in the UK.

You can see some of the portraits and interviews in this Guardian article. 

#LivingIsWinning – Olympics inspire refugee awareness campaign

 

No matter the distance, the height or the fight

For them, living is already winning

#LivingIsWinning

Athletes perform amazing physical feats to win; men, women and children fleeing war, poverty and violence also surpass themselves. But they do it simply to survive.

This parallel struck two young French creatives, who wanted to counter the negative portraits of refugees in the media. They took the opportunity of the official announcement of Paris 2024 Olympics to talk about the dangerous journey many refugees have to take – crossing lands, deserts and seas and facing countless obstacles - in order to win their right to live.

The result is  “Living is Winning”, a refugee awareness campaign launched on September 14, the day after Paris was officially set to host the 2024 Olympics.

The campaign, which features a series of posters, three films and a campaign website, was created and directed by Valentin Guiod (Josiane Paris) and Min-Hyung Choi (AdamandeveDDB London), with the support of Josiane and OTSO Paris, and led by La Cimade, an independent humanitarian organisation protecting refugees’ rights.

“In France, some people started to see migrants as hobos whereas they are just humans who are forced to leave everything, surpassing themselves to flee conflict and persecution,” explains Min-Hyung Choi. “This idea of surpassing yourself rang a bell.  They are doing it not to win golds, but just their right to live with dignity. Then there was this debate on Paris 2024 in the French media, which we saw as the perfect opportunity to bring back another debate on the table.”

Their initiative has received lots of support, including from the award-winning photographer Espen Rasmussen, who lent his images to the campaign - and was extensively covered in the French media and on social media with more than 140k views and 2900 shares on Facebook.  

Now, they want to spread their message to an international audience. So please, do share it.

#LivingIsWinning

How to tell the refugee story?

Khalid's story/PositiveNegatives

Migration and the refugee story are one of the most important issues of our age and will be there for a long time. Migration, the movement of people, has always existed. “The current crisis isn’t about people being refugees and migrants, the crisis is that we think of such movement of people as a crisis,” said Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist in this issue (June 2017) of New Internationalist. He is right.

  

The way the media reports on migration and the refugee story has a huge impact on how people react to them and on public policies. So, as a journalist, I keep asking myself how to best report migration. How to produce fair and balanced pieces that counter the stereotypes and misinformation, but also how to keep telling these stories in ways that are engaging and innovative.

These are so many stories about refugees and migrants out there that people become numb and turn away from them.  Yet, it is our job as journalists to keep telling those stories again and again, and to keep telling them in ways that cut through the compassion fatigue and reach our readers.

Over the past months, I’ve been looking at examples of various creative ways  to do that - some are journalism, others not.

Here are just a few, illustrating or responding to three different issues in reporting migration:

• Most refugee stories have been told in Europe in two ways: one that instills fear with unfactual or biased reporting; the other that shakes the public awake through sorrow and shock. But there is a middle ground: stories that put a face on the numbers, that humanize the immigration statistics, that show that refugees are just people like us, thrown into exceptional circumstances. And the best stories are those told by refugees themselves.

- My favourite is “A Perilous Journey: Stories of Migration” an exhibition of literary comics based on testimonies from refugees. They were created by PositiveNegatives, a wonderful non-profit, which produces literary comics, animations and podcasts about contemporary social and human rights issues, including conflict, racism, migration, trafficking and asylum.  Concentrating on contemporary real-life stories from Syria and Iraq, we follow two men and two women on their long difficult journeys fleeing conflict and persecution.  Nadia’s Story, for example, tells of a pregnant Yazidi mother, fleeing ISIS controlled Iraq with her two young children. The last panel of each story is a real photograph of the refugee, reminding us that these are real people and real stories. It is very effective and moving.  The exhibition is at SOAS’ Brunei Gallery Room: 1st Floor Gallery until June 24. Really worth a visit!

Hasko'story/PositiveNegatives

- Then there is the series of short radio episodes produced by BBC Radio 4’s The World at One, following a Syrian family from the Jordan refugee camp where they had lived for two years to Greece, then across Europe to Germany. Reporter Manveen Rana documented the twists and turns of their journey in a series of short reports – showing the good and the bad, the hopes and the challenges.  Her reports are honest, fascinating, moving, though provoking and surprising.

- Last summer, short hand-written messages were left in public places - inside coffee shops, in between the pages of books in libraries, on benches in parks and tied to lampposts and railings - or written on white boards in tube stations. They were messages of hope for a better life, written by refugees from Nigeria, South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries - part of a campaign by humanitarian aid agency Mercy Corps, aimed at changing the attitudes and perspectives of people around Syrian refugees and the migrant crisis in general. The campaign was particularly effective with young people, who shared the messages on Instagram and Twitter. 

 

“Sometimes it is really hard to put yourselves in the shoes of these people because it seems so distant but when I read the note it really made it sink in that this girl was not any different from me,” said Rebecca Alexander, a 21-year-old student, who saw the note of a 15-year-old Syrian refugee, hanging from a tree in London's Regent’s Park.

• People are tired of refugee stories because stories of suffering are exhausting. Stories of empathy are empowering. As are those who show refugees not just as “victims”.

- For example, millions of people shared the image of Syrian refugee Alex Assali feeding homeless people on the streets of Berlin, but very few might have read his story in a newspaper.  

When Assali, 38, woke up in his small Berlin flat one autumn morning two years ago, and checked his email, 1,000 messages waiting for him. The day before, a friend had uploaded a photograph to Facebook of Assali feeding homeless people on the streets of Berlin. The caption below read: “Acts of kindness: A Syrian refugee mans a food stand for the homeless, to ‘give something back to the German people’.”   The image went viral - it was shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook and nearly three million times on Imgur. Al Jazeera produced this interactive story, giving Assali’s backstory, and that story got no trolls, according to Yasir Khan, senior editor of digital video at Al Jazeera English.

- Then there was the “Iam a refugee" campaign, launched last summer to celebrate the contribution refugees have made, and continue to make, to life in the UK. Plaques, inspired by the English Heritage blue plaques, were placed on buildings across the UK, where selected refugees have worked or studied. The idea was to show the diversity of the refugee population and the experiences they have had, as well as the creativity, skills and knowledge that they bring to the UK.

• Stories on refugees should try to portray a range of backgrounds and experiences, even contradictory, to help the audience get a fuller picture. And it's a good idea to let refugees tell their own stories.

For this year’s Refugee Week 2017, the Higgins Bedford Art Gallery and Museum is launching ‘Voices - Different Pasts, Shared Future’, an exhibition featuring oral histories from refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants from Syria, Iraq, Rwanda and Palestine. Some of the stories are from women who are detained at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. The exhibition also includes a wonderful tapestry of objects which people have brought from their countries of origin. The objects are printed, then partly stitched by volunteers from the community and women from Yarl’s Wood. “These Voices transform personal memories into collective memories impossible to ignore,” says Josepa Munoz, the artist behind the project. 

There are too many interesting and innovative projects and ways to report on the refugee story to feature here, but feel free to add those you like…