Standing with Refugees

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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. 

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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. 

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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.

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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.

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].

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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.

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]

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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.

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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.

Help Refugee Support Europe We rely on donations for everything we do and need your help, however small. 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.