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…A light-hearted account of my experiences and the diversity of Refugee Week. by Almir Koldzic, Refugee Week UK Coordinator Last Wednesday I went to Borough Market in London, where the British Red Cross launched a new destitution report – Not Gone but Forgotten. A well presented event that combined speeches, music and some delicious food tasting, balancing well the celebratory aspects of Refugee Week with the more sober and warning messages from the report. What seemed particularly important about this event was that it marked a huge change of attitude within the Red Cross, which after many years of supporting...

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. Happy Saturday :O)

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 say Hello to your neighbours in Farsi If you're hungry for more than "hello" take a look at the Simple Acts site for online lessons and language courses.

Everybody is going World Cup crazy and we at Kick It Out are no different. We are preparing for Sunday’s Alternative World Cup. After enduring sweat-inducing training sessions, we feel geared up for the tournament which is a great chance for bringing together players of refugee and non refugee background and helping refugees overcoming social exclusion through football. Alongside the Refugee Council, Anti-Slavery-International, SMILE and several refugee youth teams, we will contest for the trophy. Yet to us, having an entertaining day and playing football with people who normally don’t have the opportunity to take part in the game, is...

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. Here’s how to make Foul Mudammas to get you in the mood

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...

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?" Some of our favourites so far are: I lived on £35 for the week - like many asylum seekers have to. That's £5 a day and it really isn't easy specially in London and with our busy lives. Equally hard to fill a non work day with nothing to do and nothing to spend. Made me feel very lucky...

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 toregister your simple act – we had over 1000 registered yesterday and need to hit 20’000 completed by this Sunday

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 hot 20’000 completed by this Sunday!

If you fancy hearing some of the sounds of Refugee Week, check out the excellent Refugee Week Radio. Refugee Week Radio is an online community media project endorsed by Refugee Week which aims to publicise and celebrate the events and activities of Refugee Week, give a platform to refugee individuals and organisations, bring together media contributions from around the country and discuss some of the issues involved. Our favourites so far are: Interview with Almir Koldzic and Gerdy Rees - Listen to Almir Koldzic, Refugee Week UK Co-ordinator and Gerdy Rees our Online and Marketing Officer for Refugee Week talk...