National Refugee Week at the Pierian Centre

Saturday, 12 June 2010

The Pierian Centre in Portland Square, St. Paul's, launched National Refugee Week last night (Friday, 11th June). Bill Heaney attended on behalf of the Green Party and would encourage anyone who can to visit the centre sometime this week for one of the events or for the exhibition.

The week will feature a series of events and a thought-provoking art exhibition at the centre on the theme of refugees and asylum seekers.

The exhibition features many excellent pieces by the pupils of St. Michael's on the Mount Primary School, as well as by refugees living in Bristol.

Two videos also told the stories of the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in Bristol.

One I watched featured the work of the Bristol Bike Project which fixes donated bikes and gives them to asylum seekers to use.

Asylum seekers are given £35 of supermarket vouchers each week, so they have no available cash to pay for travel.

The video told the stories of Dahir from Somalia and Aziz from Afghanistan who said having a bike had given them freedom. Both men do volunteer work in Bristol.

The bike project has given out 150 bikes since it started in late 2008. The video said that there are currently 400 asylum seekers being supported by the government in Bristol.

There was standing room only at the launch on a warm Friday evening.

The organisers of Refugee Week encouraged everyone to get involved in whatever way they could, even in small acts, such as sharing a cup of tea with a refugee.

On Saturday, 12th June, it is Zimbabwe Day at the centre from 2 p.m. until midnight.

Monday 14th June features the Forgiveness Project workshop at 2, and an event on the Irish Potato Famine from 7.30 p.m.

Tuesday 15th June features school workshops during the day, and "The Road to Babylon" in the evening looking at the African-Caribbean experience.

Wednesday 16th June features "The Voice of Children" at 2 and 4 p.m., then a screening of the award-winning film "El Norte" at 7.30 p.m. followed by a discussion about the plight of children as refugees.

Thursday evening 17th June features a taste of Darfur from 7.30 p.m., while Friday 18th June turns the spotlight on Iran.

The week finishes with a final symposium on Saturday 19th June from 7.30 p.m. entitled "From Exile to Integration".

The art exhibition runs all week until Saturday 19th June.

Full details are available at the Pierian Centre website.