Frome Town Council’s Welcome Hub marked Refugee Week UK from 17th to 23rd June with events including a graffiti art workshop with artist Mutartis Boswell, a migration-themed workshop for schools, stand-up comedy, crafts, yoga and storytelling, celebrating the stories and contributions of displaced people.
Frome’s Merlin Theatre welcomed Selam, Pepa and Usman from London-based Counterpoint Arts’ comedy collective ‘No Direction Home’ on Friday 21st June. All the performers have direct experience of being displaced, or are the children of displaced people.
Musician Olha Koptieva and members of Frome’s Ukrainian community shared crafts, activities and live music at 23 Bath St on Saturday 22nd June. To round off the week, on Sunday 23rd, the Welcome Hub hosted a family fun day in Victoria Park, featuring music, storytelling, art and yoga and a shared picnic.
Ella, aged 11, worked with Dramakarma for the storytelling workshop at the family fun day. Ella’s dad, Steve, said, “Ella had a great time working on this project with the team at DramaKarma. She loved working as a team, feeding off each other’s energy and reacting as one, overcoming the potentially scary unknown of ‘live audience reaction’, having fun managing the mic tech swaps and the unexpected sound box swinging movements and gathering up the energy and confidence to elicit audience feedback where necessary with the Ooohs, Arrrhs and Ohhhhs.
“It was a great experience and she’s learned a lot from the whole process, about herself and what she can do when she really puts her mind to it, about teams and teamwork and about the power stories have to bring people together.”
Clare Hein of Frome Welcomes Refugees said, “The family day in the park was a celebration of how our community supports displaced people with respect, empowerment and creativity. There were art displays from local school children, graffiti art, free children and adult yoga sessions, free dual language books, and fantastic storytelling by four talented young people. The stories were not simply brilliant (which they were); they also told tales of courage in the face of adversity. And of course, there was delicious coffee from the community cafe in the park!”
An episode of the Frome FM show All About Frome featured interviews with Svitlana from Ukraine and 24-year-old Araya from Eritrea, as well as Frome Town Council’s Welcome Hub Advice Officer, Iryna, on Tuesday 11th June. The episode also features the story of Soumaya who fled Syria with her family, read by Iryna.
Presenter Rupert Kirkham spoke to Svitlana, Iryna and Araya about their personal experiences and journeys to the UK. Iryna also shared information about the Welcome Hub and the work it does to help people integrate and settle in, from language lessons and social opportunities to housing and food.
As Iryna said, “you never believe it will happen to you. Your life can turn upside down in just a second.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that at the end of 2023, there were more than 117 million displaced people globally, many of whom were from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. More recently, 1.7 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza.
Listen to the Refugee Week episode of All About Frome at https://bit.ly/ frome-fm-refugeewk. Find out more about the Frome Welcome Hub and services for refugees and people seeking asylum at https:// www.frometowncouncil. gov.uk/our-community/fromerefugeesupporthub/
