by Almir Koldzic, Refugee Week UK Coordinator
I set off on my Refugee Week journey on Thursday evening with “From Casablanca to Calais” – which turned out to be a superb event. The event, hosted by BFI London featured clips from various films exploring refugee experiences, which were then discussed by a panel of film luminaries, including Stephan Friars who although it took him a while, told us about his most relevant film Dirty Pretty Things. There were some brilliant clips from Moving to Mars, Welcome and Casablanca, which many people were surprised to discover was about refugees. The event also launched the first ever Refugee Week on-line film festival, presented to us by Refugee Action and Brightwide, which, for those of you in the “not-know” is owed by Colin Firth and his lovely wife Olivia.
My favourite moment – discovering that Samira Ahmed, the Channel 4 presenter who chaired the event, was even more brilliant, charismatic and sparkly than during her appearances on Channel 4 News.
Last Friday I went to Belfast to take part in the launch of the biggest ever Refugee Week programme of events in Northern Ireland. At the airport in Belfast, I was greeted by Brendan from NICRAS (Northern Ireland Community of Refuges and Asylum Seekers), who together with his boss Moira made me feel as someone important for those few hours I spent with them. I also realised later on that this was their general and wonderful way of treating all the people they worked with and supported.
The launch event took place in the imposing and historical Stormont, which of course is nowadays Northern Ireland’s Parliament Buildings. The event featured some great Ugandan drumming and various speeches from different organisations and individuals, including Alex Maskey (Member of the Legislative Assembly) who has been a kind and long term supporter of refugee rights in NI.
What made the biggest impression on me was that Stormont, teaming with members of various refugee and local communities, looked so colourful and live, as a place where indeed a more inclusive and tolerant future for Northern Ireland was being created.
On Sunday, I went to Celebrating Sanctuary London. To start with, it didn’t look good - the sky was dark and heavy with clouds. There were even a few drops of rain here and there, which brought to surface my long suppressed Slavic pessimism “this must be a sign…”. And then, around 3 pm, it suddenly cleared up, something that my friend Stella claimed happened due to her use of witchcraft and special chants. As I don’t have any other evidence or explanation, I can only say thank you Stella.
Once the sun came out on London’s Southbank, it was impossible to remain pessimistic even for a Slav. As around 24,000 people discovered, Celebrating Sanctuary London really is still one of the best festivals in London. Not only because it offers a magical mix of great music, food, dance, performance but also because it brings together such a variety of perfectly familiar and friendly strangers, including those from refugee communities from across the world.
My favourite moments – seeing so many old friends and former refugees now successful people and parents, enjoying themselves and supporting the cause. OH, and also an elderly Sikh man dancing his heart out to the tunes from Ivory Coast.
On Monday morning, I went to Norwich to attend their Refugee Week launch event, which I was delighted to discover was chaired by my old friend from the Red Cross days, Andy Hewitt. What impressed me there was that the launch event was taking place at the City Council building, where in the lobby display they were promoting Refugee Week and welcoming refugees to Norfolk. What a clear and great message to give out, I thought. And what a great model and example to promote to other city councils.
My favourite moment - going through their superb and well presented programme of events, and reading about an organised walk that will trace architectural and entrepreneurial contributions that various refugee communities have made to Norwich throughout centuries.
Watch this space to find out about the rest of my week. In the meantime, may the stupendous Refugee Week events across the UK continue…!
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