This Refugee Week, people are being inviting to explore the theme of ‘Healing’. Through creativity and conversations, Refugee Week 2022 will be a celebration of community, mutual care, and the human ability to start again.
There is more information on the official website https://refugeeweek.org.uk/theme-of-refugee-week-2022-healing/
And an amazing schedule of events across the county
Brighton and Hove https://refugeeweek.org.uk/events/brighton-and-hove-refugee-week/
Hastings and St Leonards https://mailchi.mp/505cc9a94137/refugee-week-2022?e=5cd5fb991e
Chichester https://sanctuaryinchichester.org/2021/05/28/refugee-week-exhibitions/
Thanks to Sanctuary on Sea for publication of this article
“Earlier today, Councillor Lizzie Dean, Mayor of Brighton and Hove, officially opened Refugee Week when she visited an exhibition of stunning works by Syrian artist Diala Brisly at Jubilee Library.
Every year during Refugee Week we celebrate refugees’ creativity, courage and resilience and how they have helped to make Brighton & Hove the vibrant, diverse city that we love. Diala Brisly said recently that World Refugee Day (which always falls in Refugee Week) must not be a celebration for white people: it should be about raising awareness of refugees’ rights. This year it does just that, largely thanks to Luqman Onikosi and Sara Alsherif, who have programmed events for the city’s libraries and worked to promote Brighton & Hove Refugee Week as a whole – see below for the Brighton and Hove programme and follow these links for programmes in Chichester and Hastings/St Leonards.
Thanks to Luqman, we had a great discussion on Sunday about the deal to expel asylum seekers to Rwanda. We heard how the flight was blocked by a powerful coalition of activists and lawyers who successfully defended the rights of refugees. Panelists underlined the importance of asylum seekers taking control of their asylum claims and instructing their lawyers accordingly. And thanks to Sara asylum seekers in the city, including those warehoused in a grim hotel in Hove, will get a chance to have the asylum system explained properly at a legal clinic on Thursday, supported by SIS Community Interpreters.
Sara spoke movingly at the exhibition of coming to Brighton & Hove broken, shattered and weak. The city was now her new home where she felt “genuinely safe” and could try to heal.
But Refugee Week is not all serious. Look at the full line up of events below and don’t miss Mohand and Peter at St Mary’s Church, Kemptown, a funny, fantasy journey back to Sudan. Please come and laugh with us at one of the performances at 7.30 on Thursday or Friday, because healing is this year’s Refugee Week theme and there is nothing more healing than laughter. If you are from a refugee community, contact Pien Kuipers for free entry.”
Sign up to a Refugee Week event now. See you there!
