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Journalist and photographer Sean Hawkey has just returned from one month with the Honduran 'Migrant Caravan'. This is a moving, intimate account of travelling with people who had no choice other than to take huge risks migrating north.
With detailed, first hand knowledge of Honduras and the Honduran people, Sean talks about what has driven these people to head north, who they are and what their prospects are now.
The drivers are a combination of climate change, extreme poverty, shocking violence and a criminal political elite. The migrants are refugees and like all refugees a cross-section of society with many children. And while they received poignant and inspiring acts of solidarity from Mexicans throughout their journey, they now face some hostility in Tijuana and across the border in the US.
You can see find out more about Sean's journey on his website, facebook page and Instagram.
Sean has also just produced The Real Face of Jesus, a fantastic book of portraits that tells the stories of Hondurans called Jesus and their political and social struggles that you can buy here.
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Samira Harnish founded Women of the World and her work was recognised by the UNHCR when she won the Nansen Award for the Americas this year. She helps displaced women to become self-reliant. They offer an individual customised service for every woman to help them deal with different government bodies, to get into work and to help with practical English.
We talk about this fantastic service she runs from Salt Lake City, the many obstacles she has to overcome, and how the situation for displaced people in the US has got worse in the last 2 years.
But she is not going to let anything stop her and she has a clear message – if we give our refugee neighbours a chance, they can accomplish great things.
If you are in Utah on December 8th you can be part of their event to celebrate women’s achievements – the 10th year they have been running this.
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Mohammed Nour talks movingly to co-founder John about his journey from the tragedy of Aleppo, dealing with smugglers to get into Greece with his family, being stuck in a camp for nearly 2 years until finally getting a chance to realise his dreams in Switzerland.
We met Mohammed Nour, now aged 22, and his inspirational family in Alexandreia camp in Greece and theirs is a story of extreme loss and hardship, strength and resilience.
He talks about the traumatic events that forced them to leave, dealing with smugglers to get into Greece, and the privations and indignities of a refugee camp. But now they are rebuilding their lives and he talks about his strong desire to be independent and to continue saving others' lives.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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In this week's special podcast, we follow up with writer Dina Nayeri after her visit to two of the camps where we work. She wrote movingly about her visit in the Guardian.
As a child refugee herself, there were many parallels with her childhood experience, and it came with many bitter-sweet moments. Dina and Paul talk about the humanity that shines through adversity, about what it means to be a refugee and the the current political situation.
Dina's new book The Ungrateful Refugee, some of which will be based in Greece, will be published in spring 2019.
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Joy Stacey of Brighton-based Silat Network is setting up a service to offer training and mentoring to students in refugee communities so that they can access universtiy education abroad.
There are plenty of scholarships and university places available but how to find these, how to apply and how to be successful is not well known outside of the UK and US. Of course there are private companies that can help with that - for a fee - but Silat Network will be offering it for free to refugees in Palestine and Lebanon.
This is a great initiative born from seeing a real need and a frustration that extremely talented people are missing out on great opportunities to improve their lives and ours because of institutional and economic barriers. She already has one fantastic success story.
You can contact Joy at [email protected].
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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One of our trustees, Rana, talks about the people she is helping us to support with our new Business Fund for refugees at Katsikas camp. The Business Fund is the next step in our model to bring dignity and normality to people stuck in refugee camps. It has been an inspiring weekend and a huge privilege to help people with their plans to improve their living standards and, importantly, to gain some independence.
The concept of the Business Fund is simple. One month ago we asked people on the camp to submit a one-page business proposal. We are lending €1,000 to every viable proposal plus all the legal and coaching support they need to help that business thrive. You can read about the first 12 businesses that will be recipients of the fund during August 2018 here.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small.
Over the last 2 years in Cameroon, conflict between the Franch speaking government forces and the English speaking separatist movement has led to huge numbers of internally displaced people and refugees fleeing to Nigeria.
We talk to activist Nkengafrica Ernest, Constituent President of the Cameroon National Youth Council and of the African Patriotic Youth Council Movement, who is calling for everyone to raise awareness of the crisis. It has gone largely unreported in the press and it needs international attention.
There is also a huge need for large scale emergency assistance.
Nkenga also talks about his own story as a migrant, working as a cleaner in the Middle East before going on to get a degree and begin a career as a health and safety professional.
He has now returned to his country to raise awareness of the crisis and assist in reconciliation and peace-building. He can be contacted on [email protected]
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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On our recent tour to the US we spoke at a United Tastes of America event in Montclair NJ and were inspired by what the two founders - Melina and Kate - have achieved by bringing people together over food. Their motto is something we'd love to see more of right now: Breaking Bread, Building Bridges.
In this podcast we speak to founder Melina Macall who, together with her friend Kate, was so appalled at the public hostility of their state governor to Syrian refugees in 2015 that they had to do something to counter it. Melina describes how what started as a Christmas get-together for local Jewish and Muslim residents has turned into regular events in people's homes and businesses.
It's a brlliant project where Syrians now in the US get to share their culture, heritage and family traditions. They use the skills and talents they naturally have to meet new friends, help support their families and acclimatize to their new home.
Programmes like this are now more important than ever.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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Today is the final date in our US tour speaking to supporters about what is possible when people help people and what the latest situation is facing refugees in Europe right now.
This talk is by Paul speaking at the Bnai Keshet Synagogue in Montclair New Jersey, at the invitation of Melina of the United Tastes of America. She will be talking on next week's podcast about how she and her friend Kate are bringing communities together with food.
Each talk has been different but this one covers how Refugee Support got started, how we have always tried to put dignity first and all that has been achieved thanks of the people from all over the world who have helped.
The slides from the presentation can be viewed here.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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Sharon started helping refugees on the Balkan route in 2015 with emergency support, but got frustrated with the duplication and the waste. It was clear to her that what refugees really needed was reliable and timely information about their legal rights and the asylum process.
And so she created Refucomm and that’s when her journey began to get great information into their hands. Printed documents didn’t reach enough because of literacy problems. Websites and video depended on limited internet bandwidth. Now Refucomm distributes the information on SD memory cards for mobile phones.
Underlying it all has been a philosophy of closely involving refugees in every stage of the information creation and dissemination process.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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Christa came to Greece in 2015 to do what she could for refugees, like so many of us after seeing the body of Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish shore. She has made several humanitarian trips to Greece with our friends Carry the Future and Allied Aid.
We were also lucky to her along as one of our walkers retracing the refugee route this month before she travelled on to volunteer on the island of Chios.
We talk about the poignancy of that walk, the enjoyment of being a volunteer and the extraordinary people we’ve met.
Christa is one of life’s smilers with boundless enthusiasm and affection who just had to do something to help and as she says “One person can make a difference.”
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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We worked closely with our good friend Zoe when she was the UNHCR Officer at Alexandreia refugee camp but she was supporting refugees as a volunteer 18 months before that. She was part of the very first response at Idomeni.
As 19 Refugee Support volunteers begin their week long walk to re-trace the refugee route from Idomeni to Skopje, Zoe talks about how she witnessed the border at Idomeni go from some empty fields in early 2015 to the largest sprawling camps in Europe 12 months later, populated by people who had made epic and exhausting journeys.
Speaking to both John and Paul, Zoe talks about this enormous upheaval in a rural community and how thousands of local Greek people organised to provide food, clothing and medical care to tens of thousands of refugees in transit long before the government, other agencies or international volunteers were helping.
Many citizens of Northern Greece have grandparents and great grandparents who were refugees themselves so they know how traumatic it is to be forced to leave your home.
In an emotional recollection, it is a story of human solidarity, supporting each other, but being part of it came at a huge price.
Govenerments must do more.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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With borders closing across Europe, refugees arriving were getting trapped in the southern states of Greece and Italy. The political solution to this was the EU statement of 20 March 2016 to slow the arrival of refugees from Turkey.
Two years on we discuss this statement, often referred to as the EU-Turkey deal, with Claudia Bonamini, policy and advocacy officer of the Jesuit Refugee Service. Claudia wrote about the 2 year anniversary of the policy here.
There are a number of elements to the policy but whether you look at it from a legal, practical or moral viewpoint it has been a failure.
It has not stopped refugees arriving, many are still languishing in Greece, conditions in Turkey are probably inhumane, but it is Europe’s moral failure that is so acute.
Claudia talks knowledgeably and passionately about this failure. We have made the suffering and injustice invisible within Europe’s borders, and yet the suffering and injustice for people fleeing war is worse.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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Ingrid started supporting refugees in the Calais jungle in 2015 and went on to do much more, now hosting 4 refugees in her own home.
Giving refugees a place to stay is obviously important but it also means they get essential support to access all local services and integrate into their new country.
It can be hard work and you need to find the right balance, but it is very rewarding getting to know the people who have made extraordinary journeys, to see them succeed as they rebuild their lives and to spend time with others who are supporting refugees like the people of Epsom & Ewell Refugee Network.
This is a inspirational and positive story from someone who just decided to do something to help and went on to help. And like all of us who are doing what we can for others, she got a huge amount out of it for herself. As Ingrid says: ‘It has been the best years of my life.”
A good place to start if you would like to host refugees is Refugees at Home.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small.
The Sanctuary organisation is a national volunteer movement devoted to offering a welcome and safety for people fleeing violence and persecution. In Brighton, that is the very active Sanctuary on Sea, chaired by Richard Williams, where they:
– Focus on creating welcoming environments in school
– Find accommodation for refugees coming under the Syrian vulnerable persons scheme
– Support other refugee-related organisations in Brighton
– Organise meetings and cultural events, especially as part of Refugee Week from 18-24 June this year
This is valuable work and another example of the many grass-roots solidarity in local communities across the UK. But the country could do more and small things can make a difference. We talk about that and some of the changes that Richard has seen over the 20 years he has been working with refugees, not least in the rise of the costly ‘refugee industry’.
How about instead of spending all those billions keeping people out, we invest in these grass-roots initiatives to welcome people in?
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Help Refugee Support Europe
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Bea Shrewsbury volunteered on a camp last year and it changed her life. She’s now a trustee, serial volunteer and champion fundraiser.
Her inspirational mother came to England as part of the kindertransport from Germany just before WWII and Bea wrote about that here and what a great thing that was. With Help Refugees once again taking the UK govt to court to get them to fulfil their obligations under Dubs to take in unaccompanied child refugees from Europe, now seems a more heartless time.
We talk about that, about how anyone could be a refugee and that if we give them a chance to start again we will all benefit – as Bea and her family are testament to.
We also talk about our walk from Idomeni to Skopje, retracing some of the route that refugees took. You can still join the 17 who have already signed up to raise awareness, spend some time in beautiful countryside with some great, like-minded people and beat a challenge. You’ll also be raising important funds for our work and we have a few tips about that. It’s from 29th April – 5th May and if you sign up, we promise you won’t regret it.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small.
Tracey Samuel runs bonniemob, a Brighton-based family business that designs and sells kids clothes around the world. Upset at the plight of the refugees in 2016 and keen to do something she decided to help Refugee Support by doing what she does best – designing and selling clothes.
Working with Selfish Mother, she created a charity collection that has raised almost £10,000 for refugees! (There are still some available and they make great gifts…). bonniemob is now working on another range for the end of 2018 where £10 or £20 from each item goes to supporting refugees.
This is a great story of how anyone can help refugees, just trying to do something can grow into something big and how everyone can benefit: the business, customers and the charity. What can you do to help?
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Help Refugee Support Europe
We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small.
In 2015, Ros was working in TV and volunteering at her Synagogue’s refugee support group, when the facebook event she set up quickly became a huge demonstration with 100,000 people. From there, Solidarity with Refugees was born which Ros now leads.
This is an inspirational story about what happen both personally and nationally when something you organise suddenly becomes massive.
Solidarty with Refugees is now supporting other grassroots refugee groups and getting the solidarity message out there. If we want long term solutions, we need to change the policies.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small.
For this week’s podcast, Paul spoke to Tasha Freidus, the founder and creator of NeedsList. We’ve been working with Tasha for about a year now, and Tasha has been a big supporter of our work during this time.
NeedsList in as online marketplace that unites humanitarian organisations with donors – listing what organisations need so that donors who want to help can donate to urgent, real-time causes. It’s a great and transparent way of showing donors who they are helping, and what their donation is being used for. So far, it has met over 30,000 needs in 10 countries!
Displaced people have urgent needs which can change quickly. Small organisations such as ourselves often lack the resources to satisfy needs immediately; relying on donations of physical items such as clothes and shoes to offer aid. Unfortunately, however, the time it takes for donations to reach their destination can often result in a influx of items that are no longer urgently needed by the time they arrive.
NeedsList is a fantastic platform, because not only does it satisfy physical needs, but it also accepts monetary donations which are often the most effective in crisis. Thanks for talking with us, Tasha, and keep up the great work.
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Help Refugee Support Europe
We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small.
Brighton-based Steve started Refugee Radio 10 years to create an arts programme with refugees but it quickly morphed into a mental health support service.
Steve talks about this critical servce, but also in the context of the last decade working with refugees and the UK bureaucracy. Although the UK and Europe are still reluctant to resettle and support refugees, attitudes have improved. Although we’ve seen a right wing backlash over the last 2 years, it was a lot worse.
Seeing pictures of tragedy raises awareness but what can we do to create more compassionate, welcoming attitudes? Frequently we hear an economic argument but what about demonstrating that these people are humans, just like you and me.
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