The team at The Refugee and Migrant Centre (Black Country and Birmingham) will be supporting a number of Refugee Week events throughout this week.
Refugee Week is an annual festival in the UK each June celebrating the contribution, creativity and resilience of people from refugee backgrounds to the UK.
Taking place this week – 17th – 23rd June – volunteers, staff and clients at The Refugee and Migrant Centre (Black Country and Birmingham) (RMC) have been working tirelessly to take part in the nationwide celebrations, and in the region.
It’s important for us not only because we support people seeking safety to overcome the challenges in building a new life here, but also because we witness the invaluable contributions and ways in which people from refugee backgrounds enrich our lives and the communities they live in. We wanted to both raise awareness about and celebrate this.
Amongst others in the team, we have Mohammed who has been in the UK for just over a year from Syria and after developing his English at RMC ESOL classes he is now going through the MiFriendly Cities project to build his own business.
We also have Yasimeen and Jwan who are studying at college and Yasimeen is hoping to become an accountant. Their family are currently converting their teaching qualifications to be able to continue teaching in the UK.
Our team of organisers is a mix of people from different countries, ages, genders, ethnicity and cultures, and it is from this we draw our strength, utilising the skills and experiences of each individual. It also draws a parallel to the infinite and numerous ways refugees make their way to the UK, overcome varied challenges and then enrich our lives.
To celebrate Refugee Week, we will be hosting interactive stalls at events across Birmingham and the Black Country throughout this week, alongside a big cultural celebration in our RMC offices. These will showcase the wide backgrounds of our clients and team, alongside the invaluable contributions they make to the communities they live in. Details of these events can be found below and we would love to see you there!
· Refugee Week Communities & Network event – Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery – Thursday 20th June 12 – 3:30pm
· Meet & Mingle @ The Lighthouse – Wolverhampton – Saturday 22nd June – 6:00pm – 9:00pm
· Refugee Week Celebration @ The MAC – Birmingham – Sunday 23rd June – 12:00 – 5:30pm
· You can also see the Refugee Week exhibition at the lighthouse in Wolves all week long with a display created by our team.
To find out more about Refugee Week, visit https://refugeeweek.org.uk/ and follow @RMCentre on Twitter to catch up with how we are celebrating throughout this week.
