Simple Acts

November's Simple Act of the Month - Cook a dish from another country

Each newsletter we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – this month we're licking our lips after cooking a few dishes from another country!

Qabuli Palow from Afghanistan

Offered by: the Hassanzai Family in Newham

To feed: 9 – 10 people

Suitable for: veggie-friendly

Cooking time: 40 minutes

The Hassanzai family say:

‘We usually cook this dish with meat as no-one in Afghanistan is vegetarian, but this is an alternative for those who don’t eat meat. We don’t cook this dish everyday. We cook it on special occasions like Now Roz.’

Get the full recipe on the Simple Acts site

October's Simple Act of the Month – Read a book about refugees

Each newsletter we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – this month we're talking ‘Books about Exile’ - and a book by none other than this year's Nobel Prize winner!

No, not Barack Obama, but Herta Müller who was last week awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. We’ve highlighted one of her earliest novels, ‘Traveling on One Leg’, which describes leaving one country called home and arriving in another. Müller confronts her readers with the alien world of the Ceausescu regime, but also with the alienation in her own life.

Müller was born in the Romanian Banat in western Romania. A member of Romania's ethnic German minority, Müller knew persecution under the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and eventually in 1987 she fled to Germany with her husband.

Find out more on the Simple Act of the Month page...

September's Simple Act of the Month - Watch a movie about refugees

Each month, we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – whether it a book about exile or a few weird and wonderful words in a new language.

This month we're talking ‘Films about Exile', and shouting about 'Grow Your Own'!

Grow Your Own is a British drama/comedy which centres around a group of gardeners at a Merseyside allotment who react angrily when a group of refugees are given plots at the site. But a bigger danger soon rears up in the shape of a mobile phone company determined to install a mast on the allotment, forcing the plot's inhabitants to work together with the newcomers and, eventually, form friendships.

Find out more and watch clips on the Simple Act of the Month page...

August's Simple Act of the Month - Share a Song

Each month, we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – whether it a book about exile or a few weird and wonderful words in a new language.

This month we're sharing a song and raving about 'Far' by the lovely Regina Spektor!

Regina Spektor’s music has been described as a heartfelt mix of “Weimar cabaret, Russian polka, whimsical folk and sultry blues”. A Russian Jew, Spektor and her family fled the anti-Semitism of the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s when she was nine years old, passing through Italy and Austria before settling in the Bronx area of New York.

Read more about Regina and listen to some tunes

Paddington Bear does a Simple Act

Paddington Bear has shared a story especially for Refugee Week.

Through a story written by Michael Bond as part of the Simple Acts campaign, Paddington bear tells of his arrival in Britain and how a sticky paw can make the UK more welcoming for other refugees.

Read Paddington Bear’s Simple Act.

'Freedom is at the centre of a life well lived'

For Refugee Week, author Hari Kunzru defines 'Freedom', which for Britain's refugees should mean much more than safety.

Watch Hari's video

Amnesty International (London) Refugee Week rally

Demonstration marking International Refugee Day on Saturday 20 June
 
Amnesty International groups in London have teamed up with the Refugee Council, Refugee Action, Hackney Refugee & Migrant Support Group, London Detainee Support Group and others to organise a demonstration calling for an end to the destitution of refused asylum seekers.

The march takes place on Saturday 20 June as part of Refugee Week. It will start at 12 noon at Embankment and head off past Westminster to Trafalgar Square, where a rally in support of asylum seekers will be held.

Speakers
Kate Allen Amnesty International, Jeremy Corbyn MP,
Marilynn Bonzo from Zimbabwe, Maurice Wren Asylum Aid,
Donna Covey Refugee Council, Makola Mayimbika Poetic Justice,
Jean Roger Kaseki Human Rights Campaigner from DRC,
Emma Ginn Medical Justice, Weyman Bennet UAF/ Love Music Hate Racism

Time and Place
Meet at Cleopatra’s Needle, Embankment, SW1 at 12 noon
Rally at Trafalgar Square from 2 – 4pm

Amnesty International is part of Still Human Still Here, a broad coalition of 29 organisations campaigning to bring all refused asylum seekers out of destitution by extending asylum support, permission to work, and access to healthcare and education until they are safe to return or granted leave to remain.

The coalition also includes the Refugee Council, Refugee Action, the Red Cross, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and the Archbishop’s Council of the Church of England.

Come along and support the day

For further info contact: Ulrike Schmidt
Ulrike.schmidt@candi.ac.uk M. 07984 729321

Win a lovely Simple Acts Journal with Wordia!

One day left to win a lovely Simple Acts Journal! Wordia.com are giving away one each day to the highest-rated word definition. Go on – upload your video definition to win!

What do the following words mean to you?
refuge, liberty, freedom, detention, home, identity, community.

Upload your video defining a word to win at www.wordia.com

'We are all foreigners somewhere'

For Refugee Week, Liberty's Shami Chakrabarti has defined refuge and argues Britain can't turn its back on refugees.

Watch Shami's video

Camila Batmanghelidjh defines the word ‘Refuge’

Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of the charity Kids Company, defines the word ‘Refuge’ as part of the Simple Acts campaign.

Camila shares her views in a video which has been highlighted on The Guardian's Liberty Central pages.

See the video of Camila Batmanghelidjh defining refuge