A Cultural Celebration Kicks off Refugee Week!

By Katy George

Saturday 12th of June saw the ‘World in One Healthy City’ event at the Glaxo Neurological Centre, marking the opening of Refugee Week both in Liverpool and nationwide. The day was organised by Asylum Link Merseyside in partnership with Sahir House - an HIV and AIDS support centre.

A banquet of dishes ranging from sushi to Ethiopian stew and a relaxed, intimate atmosphere greeted visitors to this free event. All ages and a myriad of cultures were represented amongst the guests and participants.

The entertainment began with a dance performance by children from El Salvador. Dressed in national costume, they were warmly received with the audience providing impromptu beats with clapping hands.

Next came Asylum Link’s lively and limber dance troupe from countries including Angola and Congo – an exuberant and joyous display setting the tone for things to come.

The rhythm was taken up by a quartet of salsa dancers, whisking the crowd well and truly away from English shores and into latin love with the rolling beats! At the end of the sequences, the spectators needed little encouragement to join the performers on the dancefloor while the tunes moved across the Atlantic to Africa and back again.

West African drummers Ibadi then serenaded the audience with their earthen, up-beat rhythms, a sneak preview of their show later that night.

The fun continued with a fashion show - models displayed traditional national costumes from many countries represented in refugee and asylum seeker communities. The group swept into the room like an army of butterflies on parade, sunning themselves in the smiles and appreciation of the audience. AL’s manager Andi Amabara provided an informative commentary on the different ensembles – some being reserved for special and ceremonial occasions.

There was an artist on hand for face and body painting - a big hit with the younger guests - and the fast-disappearing feast was continually replenished with yet more colours and tastes from around the world.

The purpose of Refugee Week is to celebrate and raise awareness of the huge contribution made to our communities by refugees and asylum seekers. It aims to spread some of the positivity and colour felt by many whose lives are touched by these communities, as well as promoting better understanding of their plight by the general public. Events like last Saturday’s achieve this admirably by dissolving the lines that segregate us according to our differences, and allowing us to revel in our wonderfully diverse humanity through the universal languages of music and dance.

One need not resort (as Refugee Week’s website has so powerfully done) to citing the contributions of Einstein, Sigmund Freud and the creator of the contraceptive pill in order to highlight how much richer our lives are thanks to the input of refugee and asylum seeker communities – one need only look past the headlines of our newspapers. A timely report in the Daily Mirror (11th June) drew attention to the more prosaic, everyday contributions of these communities. The article spoke of the complete rejuvenation of a run-down area in Doncaster, due to an influx of refugees and asylum seekers. Crime rates had fallen drastically, vandalism and anti-social behaviour had seen a sharp fall with their arrival, and landlords commented that the newcomers were ‘model’ tenants.

Public opinion is a powerful force for change when people are united by common ideals of decency and justice. When mobilised, this can be useful in creating fairer conditions and treatment for victims of war and unrest. This collective energy can be influential in Liverpool today, as it has been in the past. In 1943, in a spate of paranoid xenophobia, 27,000 Jewish refugees were interned in Britain as ‘enemy aliens’ alongside Nazi sympathisers until public outcry and demonstrations ensured their release.

At street level and in our daily lives, our society needs to stop demonising these populations of often scared, vulnerable people. Anyone wishing to get more information about the myths behind tabloid scaremongering on the asylum issue should go to RefugeeWeek’s website at http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk, or contact Asylum Link Merseyside, St. Anne’s Centre, 7 Overbury Street, Liverpool, L7 3HJ.