new life and hope
Refugee Week (19-25 June) is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Founded in 1998 in the UK and held every year around World Refugee Day (20 June), this is its 25th anniversary. This year’s theme is compassion.
Refugee Week’s vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities, where they can continue to make a valuable contribution.
We asked some of our people what the week means to them.
Doaa, Youth Ambassador:
Refugees are not just a statistic, they are human beings with dreams, hopes, and aspirations.
Refugee Week is a reminder that we are all connected and that we all have a role to play in creating a more just and compassionate world. It's a time to come together to celebrate diversity, promote inclusion, and build bridges across cultures.
Let's use this week to raise awareness about the challenges facing refugees and to advocate for policies that protect their rights and dignity. Together, we can create a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
Domenica, Kent Refugees Programme Manager, Canterbury Diocese:
You may be as puzzled as I am when I hear that Refugee Week is a celebration. Celebration of what, I sometimes wonder.
Please step inside my heart and I will tell you the reasons why I celebrate Refugee Week.
For most people we serve, Refugee Week can be tricky to handle as it fingers that cord between guilt and gratitude. What are we celebrating then? Being forced to leave your sense of self, memories of home life, friends, family, and one’s job behind?
Or maybe we celebrate living in a hostile country where all you are and bring feels out of place, not needed, and certainly not wanted.
I think that in Refugee Week, we celebrate LIFE despite all of this. The week offers us a chance to reconnect with our common humanity and forces us to hang on on to what good there is in us humans: our collective power to survive despite war, draughts, famine, abuse, anger, loneliness and the Nationalities and Borders Act….
Nicola, Vice Chair of Trustees:
To me, Refugee Week means an opportunity to listen and learn from people with lived experience of being a refugee. It's important we hear as many perspectives as possible because there is no singular experience of displacement.
It is a time to counter the inaccurate and hostile narrative that generally surrounds seeking asylum. I use this week to absorb the positive stories from our community and celebrate KRAN's young people. This will renew my hope for a future where refugees are better understood and treated with compassion.
Razia, CEO:
This year’s Refugee Week is all about compassion, and we are delighted to be working with the DIocese of Canterbury and the Clewer Initiative to mark the week with a series of events and workshops with schoolchildren, faith leaders and local community groups.
We are also grateful to the Marsh Family for putting a spotlight on refugees and asylum seekers with the release of their new song, See Your Face Again.
Our message is that in a time of hostility and change in the political and legislative landscape - where those fleeing persecution are treated differently depending on where they are from and how they arrived in the UK - we need to ensure that they are all given a 'warm welcome', that the system is fair and equitable, and shows them them all compassion, dignity and respect.
Ruth, founding member:
Refugee Week reminds me how fragile life is around today's world, with wars and increasing climate change driving people from their homes. Yet the refugees and asylum seekers I have met show me that if we have compassion and support each other, people fleeing all kinds of horror can heal and flourish again and be part of new communities.
I will always be grateful to the young refugees I have known who have given me new insights and understanding and friendship. We must be aware of all the dangers facing refugees, but also celebrate the ways in which people overcome many obstacles and find new life and hope.