Bedford Refugee Week / 2008 / Asylum Monologues
For National Refugee Week 2008 we employed Wooden Hill, a Bedford based theatre company, to produce the Asylum Monologues as the centre piece of Bedford's Refugee Week activities. The script, developed by Ice & Fire Theatre Company, kindly gave us permission to perform it in Bedford.
“.....imagine arriving in a foreign country, somewhere quite alien, like China for example, and being presented with a form, 19 pages long, in Chinese....you don’t even know where to buy a stamp or what a post office is..... your Chinese doesn’t extend beyond Dim Sum and MaoTze Tung......”
The monologues are true stories of real people, highlighting not only eventsin their own countries that have forced them to flee, but their experiences of being asylum seekers in the UK.
The evening was a great success, the actors played to a full house and we followed the performance with a discussion session between actors, audience and an invited panel of "experts" who are or work with refugees and asylum seekers in the Eastern Region of the UK.
Traditional African drummers Martin Hanson and Alfonse Hanson who both belong to the Osagyefo Theatre Company provided the music during the performance.
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Cast: Sara Turner, Andrew Barron & Connie Dalrymple Directed by Cally Lawrence |
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Bedford Refugee Week / 2008 / They Get Free Mobiles Don't They
A second theatre event was the hard hitting “They get free mobiles don’t they?” presented by Banner Theatre on Fri 27th June at The Tavistock Community Centre, and sponsored by Bedford & District TUC & Bedford & Milton Keynes Co-operative Party.
"They get free mobiles . . . don’t they?" is a documentary theatre production from Birmingham based Banner Theatre, which sets out to bust some of the media-generated myths about refugees and asylum seekers.
This live multimedia show, combining music, song, video, film and theatre, speaks for Britain’s newest arrivals as they dodge borders, bullets and bureaucracy in their quest for safety and security from war-torn lands in Africa and the Middle East. It tells the human stories of people in the wrong place at the wrong time, and cuts through the myths, lies and prejudice surrounding the search for sanctuary in England’s green but sometimes not so pleasant land.
But "They get free mobiles . . . don’t they?" also shows how our lives here in the UK are integrally connected to those of refugees from impoverished third world countries and exposes the big business interests that profit from the exploitation of children and slave labourers, particularly in the mining and production of tantalum – a key element in our mobile phones.
"They get free mobiles . . . don’t they?" interweaves a rich tapestry of musical styles – from rock, rap and reggae to blues, folk and jazz – to highlight the real-life experiences of people caught up in the whirlwind of the twenty-first century.
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Bedford Refugee Week / 2008 / Turtles Can Fly
For film lovers Bedford Council of Faiths presented Turtles can Fly at Priory Methodist Church, a profoundly moving film about the plight of Kurdish children in Iraq.
The evenings have included an introduction by Desmond Fernandes, policy analyst and former Senior Lecturer in Human Geography and Genocide Studies at De Montfort University, England as well as an informal post film discussion and refreshments.
This award winning film was the first to be made in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The evening commenced with an informal film discussion to set the scene and refreshments.
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Bedford Refugee Week / 2008 / Coffee Morning : BRASS
The week of events started with a coffee morning organised by BRASS for `the English language Befriending Service’. This aimed to bring tutors and students together to network and share support and experiences.
Bedfordshire Refugee & Asylum Seeker Support (BRASS) is an established charity working to empower, inform and support refugees and asylum seekers and to protect rights with an aim to develop independence and involvement in UK society.
Our services rely heavily on volunteers and many others give us support behind the scenes.
We are highly regarded by asylum seekers and refugees, many of whom return to us for advice and support. We are active members of many local forums where we seek to ensure that the needs of refugees and asylum seekers are understood and addressed.
BRASS has built up a wealth of knowledge around issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers. We participate in local forums, such as Refugee Week and can provide speakers and literature to groups on request.
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Bedford Refugee Week / 2008 / "Nations United" Football Tournament
8 community teams took part in the “Nations United” Football Tournament, hosted by bpha at the Alexander Sports Centre. All players were given information about the aims of Refugee Week, with particular reference to refugee football players.
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Bedford Refugee Week / 2008 / Other Events
Bedford Central Library
Visitors to Bedford’s Central Library were treated to an inspiring Refugee Week display of Artwork, books & information. This included an exhibition put together by Yarl’s Wood Befrienders to raise awareness about Yarl's Wood and the Befrienders project, with an emphasis on Children in Detention.
Waterstones also featured a stand of books on the theme of refuge and asylum, and the local Race Equality Council displayed Refugee Week materials in its reception.
In total more than 180 people attended the events.
“We are so pleased to have brought a wide and varied programme to Bedford this year as nothing like this has been done before” said Carol Solaiman, chair of the Steering group. “The events have been well supported by local people. We knew that those attending would already be sympathetic to the plight of refugees and asylum seekers – our aim was to increase their factual knowledge and confidence, so that they can go on to be ambassadors and do some myth busting themselves”
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- 2010