News
APPLY NOW for a full 4-year undergraduate scholarship at HULT International Business School for refugee students. Deadline: Sunday 18th July
More information at http://www.star-network.org.uk/index.php/news/comments/university_scholarship_for_refugee_student/
The winning entries of our Simple Acts Banner competition have now been announced. Congratulations go to the pupils of Westminster City School. Click here to see the winning banners, the excellent runners up and all the entries.
STUDENTS DEFINE REFUGE
Thanks go out to this happy bunch from Student Action for Refugees who made this little video:
IT'S WORLD REFUGEE DAY!
So today's Simple Act is obviously 'Join a big campaign in support of refugees'.
If you're in London join an Umbrella Parade to demand protection for refugees, which is taking place simultainiosly in cities throughout Europe.
Or join the campaign to save Refugee and Migrant Justice from adminsitration. RMJ are calling for supporters to download and send a letter template to their local MPs, and have produced a campaign leaflet which has more information about the issues. You can find it here.
SATURDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Smile and Share our Sweets
These two seem to have been the favourites during this last week - especially in classrooms! Take a look at some of the happy comments you've been making on our Smile page.
School children have also been sharing their sweets for the campaign. For those of us a little older, here's a handy guide on how to share our sweets too.
SIMPLE ACTS SCHOOLS COMPETITION - Entries are all in!
We invited schools around the UK to make a banner with their messages of welcome for refugees. We'll be choosing a winner on the 30th June, but in the meantime take a look at some of the great responses.
The wonderful New Londoners has launched the first digital edition of its Metro style rag. Take a look for some refreshing portrayals of refugees and migrants in London.
FRIDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Learn a few words in another language
Mar ha ba. Ni Hao. Hello. Sometimes the littlest words can go a long way to making someone feel more welcome. Now, depending on who you’re talking to, here’s how to say ‘Hello’ in 44 other languages!
To get you in the mood, here's how to be pleasant to your neighbours in Farsi
If you're hungry for more than "hello" take a look at some of these online lessons and language courses.
THURSDAY’S SIMPLE ACT – Cook a dish from another country
This is one of our favourite Simple Acts! From Paella and Pilau to Foul or Fish & Chips - the possibilities for doing it are endless. We’ve got a whole bunch of tasty recipes sent in by you folks to try your hand at (we’d love more by the way), and there’s a great recipe book to download from our ‘Cook a dish’ action page.
Scarlett de Courcier has also written a great blog about recipes from a couple of other countries.
Here’s how to make Foul Mudammas to get you in the mood
WEDNESDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Your own simple act
There are hundreds of ways to help refugees feel more welcome. We’ve suggested 20 already, but this is just the starting point! Why not unleash your creativity and to tell us "What would YOU do to make refugees feel more welcome?"
We've listed a few of our favourites on the Simple Acts blog.
Take a look at some other unique ways some folk have been making little differences
Someone Once Told Me is a photography website which shows daily pictures of people holding a sheet of paper, on which they have written something they have previously been told. They’ve teamed up with clients of the Refugee Council to bring you a story each day of Refugee Week. Check the site out at http://www.someoneoncetoldme.com/
TUESDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Do a Quiz about refugees
Q: Is a quiz a great way to learn about refugees?
A: Yes.
Quizzes are great ‘cos they can surprise you, challenge your perceptions and let you feel smug when you know the answers! Here's a whole bunch of brain-teasers to try your hand at.
Remember to register your simple act – we had over 1000 registered yesterday and need to hit 20’000 completed by this Sunday!
Watch a movie about refugees. The lovely 'Grow your Own' is being shown for free on BBC iplayer for Refugee Week only! Watch it at http://bit.ly/6zOxE
MONDAY’S SIMPLE ACT – Read a book about exile
What a great simple acts for a Monday – especially if you’ve had a busy weekend running around visiting Refugee Week events! To start with why not check out this guide to reading book about exile. And to make things even easier for you we’ve collected a whole bunch of recommended books for you – check out these links:
Refugees in Literature – hundreds of great books on the theme of exile
Children’s booklist– as it says on the tin really.
Remember to register your simple act – we need to hit 20’000 completed by this Sunday!
SUNDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Share a Song
This one's going to be really simple as Refugee Week kicks off with music festivals all around the country. As we write we’re busy setting up London’s Celebrating Sanctuary festival which starts today, so we thought we’d give it a little plug here. If you’re not in or near London check out the events calendar to find festivals closest to you. Or if you’re having a BBQ and just want to share some great tunes by refugees check out our Refugees in Music section to find out more about refugee artists.
If you have Spotify - check out this great pklaylist by one of our partners: http://bit.ly/9DPcbf
SATURDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Play football with refugees
Unless you’ve been living in a cave lately you’ll have noticed that this week is also all about football. The fact that the World Cup kicks off at the same as Refugee Week suits us fine ‘cos it makes a perfect excuse to encourage you and your friends to get out and play a game of football with refugees.
To make things easy for you we’ve put together a list of Refugee Week football events taking place up and down the country – there’s bound to be one near you!
Find a football game near you
FRIDAY'S SIMPLE ACT - Take a picture of your pro-refugee banner
There’s only one more week left to enter into our Schools Competition! We want you to tell us what you would do to make refugees feel more welcome by putting it on a banner, and sending us a picture with you and your classmates holding it. Simples. More about the schools competition.
We also LOVE these banners sent in by the team at the Community Channel! If you think you can do better, send one in!!
THURSDAY’S SIMPLE ACT - Watch a movie about refugees
Come to a film festival - without having to leave the house. Brightwide’s online Refugee Week film festival will be bringing the best in thought-provoking and head-stretching cinema into our front rooms. Make some popcorn. Fire up the computer. And take your pick of award-winning drama and documentary including La Forteresse, In This World, Welcome and No One Knows About Persian Cats. Watch brightwide.com from 10 June www.brightwide.com
Or if you live in or near London, check out tonight’s amazing event at the BFI:
http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/news/events/casablancatocalais.aspx
Show your support for Refugee Week 2010 by adding our Refugee Week 'twibbon' to your Facebook or Twitter profile. You can download www.twibbon.com/simpleacts We'd love to see it all over Twitter and Facebook from June 14th - 20th!
Salusbury Primary School and Capital City Academy in London will be embracing Refugee Week in an inspiring way this year. Every year group from Nursery to Year 6 will take part in the “Simple Acts” campaign and the school aims to complete at least 800 “acts” during the week. Activities include:
- Each pupil completing a simple acts during assembly.
- Each year group will focus on different acts throughout the week: from the Early Years learning songs and rhymes in other languages, to Years 5 and 6 interviewing refugees, to other year groups listening to/telling stories , cooking, learning facts, watching films etc.
- Central to the whole week will be the registration of the “Simple Acts” on the site. Lesson plans, ideas and links have already been placed on the school’s datapool so that teachers can access them from the desktop on their interactive whiteboards in the classrooms and children can also make use of them from their laptops in or outside school. At the end of every lesson, the “acts” will be registered so that the children can see the total grow during the week. We plan to organise a central display showing the total number completed every day.
- Parents will be encouraged to take part in the campaign and register their “acts” and upload images as they do so. Eg Children will have homework to teach their parents facts about refugees, read a story or learn words in another language
Find out more about the Salusbury Primary School's activities
In honor of Refugee Week 2010, Hult International Business School—a top-ranked business school located in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai offering Undergraduate, Master and MBA programs—is offering a full four-year academic scholarship for a promising young refugee to attend their Undergraduate program in London from September 2010. Interested candidates should email jennifer.gracie@hult.edu or call 0207 341 8544 to receive an application form. Completed applications should be received by July 4th 2010. www.hult.edu
DEPUTY PM NICK CLEGG DEFINES REFUGE FOR SIMPLE ACTS
Check out some of the best events taking place during Refugee Week 2010
SIMPLE ACTS ANIMATION
This simple little animation reminds us that it only takes one Simple Act to change the way we see refugees, and ourselves...
Community Channel will be running a season of programming in support
of Refugee Week on-air and and on-line. If you have any video content
that you think the Channel could show to support your organisation as
part of the week please get in touch with Adam Perry, Outreach
Manager. Email adamp@mediatrust.org or call his direct line 020 7217
3642
POSTCARDS FROM NOWHERE
For refugee, migrant, and asylum seeking artists, social and racial origins become defining traits; they are a reflection of the otherness enforced upon them by the hostile public discourse surrounding asylum and immigration. This exhibition seeks to challenge the reification of origins as a means of engaging with art, just as it is being challenged throughout the world in contemporary life. Heavy metal groups in Iran, sapeurs in the Congo, and slacker movies in Karachi are part of an ongoing creolisation of culture.
RMJ is inviting established and emerging British artists, along with asylum seeking and refugee artists, to submit work for inclusion in an exhibition and secret auction to raise much-needed funds for the organisation. Artists are asked to create works on specially produced postcards, a potent symbol of transit and exchange between different countries. Without a clear indication of each works respective background, viewers are forced to engage with the art as it is presented, anonymous and detached from its provenance. RMJ is a charity which provides free legal advice and representation to asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants.
With the Simple Acts movement well under way, we thought we’d start highlighting little ways for you to keep up the momentum. 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 asking you to look at your roots...
Check out our newsletter...
Refugee Week as a UK-wide platform for celebrating the contributions of refugees is supported by a coalition of twelve agencies:
