Refugee Week 2021
Refugee Week, 14-20 June 2021, is a UK-wide celebration of arts, cultural and education events and activities that celebrate the contributions of refugees and promotes better understanding of why people seek sanctuary. This year at Keele, together with our Students' Union, we are joining the global community in celebrating this week and marking it through our events which aim to educate our community about the refugee week by hosting a range of events for our community to take part in.
Organised by RefugeeWeek.org, the theme for this year is 'We Cannot Walk Alone'. Taken from Martin Luther King Jr's famous 'I have a dream speech' in which he called upon white allies and stressed that everyone had an obligation engage in the movement for civil rights.
We are joining Refugee Week in asking our Keele community to extend a hand and engage with people outside of your usual circle, to sit, talk and listen to people, their experiences and their stories and to join us in seeking a better world for refugees and asylum seekers.
We hope to make this Refugee Week one where we can build connections, further our understanding, and work with local charities to make our local area a welcoming place for all.
Please see below for a full list of free events that are open to staff and students.
Refugee Week.org also have a range of events you can join in with here.
Keele University is committed to supporting students from all backgrounds and to access Higher Eucation and provide scholarships for asylum seekers and forced migrants who are seeking sanctuary in the UK. You can find out more information about the Article 26 Sanctuary Scholarship here.
A recipient of the Sanctuary Scholarship has shared their experiences of Studying at Keele through the Article 26 scholarship in a blog post which is available here.
Video and Live Q&A with ASHA, Monday 14th June 2pm-3:30pm via YouTube.
Join us to watch a pre-recorded video of interviews with refugees and asylum seekers who have settled locally after which we will host a live Q&A with members of ASHA.
ASHA is a local charity that works to provide support and advice to asylum seekers and refugees and to help with social integration through, advocacy, English lessons and a befriending service.
This event is free and open to staff, students and members of the public and is available via YouTube.
The Student's union would live to invite students to join us by knitting, crocheting or loom-weaving squares together on Teams.
The squares should be 12 inches by 12 inches so that they can be made into blankets that can be distributed to refugee families.
If you would like to get involved but don't have access to yarn (we will be using either DK or Aran yearn), there will be craft packs available from the SU shop from Wednesday 9yh June. Just pop in and ask our staff in the shop.
Please join us for a lecture from Dr Forough Ramezankhah who specialises in immigration and refugee law.
Dr Ramezankhah will be delivering an online lecture as part of Refugee Week and this is open to all staff and students.
Film Screenings
We invite our Keele Community to spend Friday evening watching a documentary about the refugee and/or asylum seeker experience.
There are a range of free documentaries online that we recommend:
- For Samaa, Channel 4
- Britains Refugee Children, Channel 4
- Moving Worlds have a range of documentary and shorts on the refugee experience
- The British Film Institute have a range of free online documentaries
