Refugee Allies

• Do you care about the plight of refugees?
• Do you want to make your local community more compassionate and inclusive?
• Do you want to learn great leadership skills and make friendships across faith and cultural differences?

Act: Speak: Inspire is a unique interfaith and intercultural leadership programme that offers a chance to take action on one of the most pressing issues of our times.

You will offer a practical hand and a listening heart in Calais and return to the UK to amplify the voice of displaced people in your home community.  Through sharing your story of volunteering and the people you meet, you will build empathy and inspire others to think differently and take action to build a more inclusive, compassionate society.

“There are some experiences in life that leave their mark on our souls and shape how we view the world… for me this was one of them.”    Hina, participant 2017

The programme will enable you to:

• be an ally to people who have suffered, and survive extraordinary hardship
• bring greater understanding and awareness of the plight of refugees to your community
• hone your leadership skills for an increasingly divisive world
• hone your storytelling and public speaking skills to speak powerfully to your community
• form friendships for life across different faiths and cultures

“What has stuck with me is the complexity of life and the injustices there are and how this could be any of us put in that situation. This fact particularly drives home to me being a first-generation immigrant.”  Participant 2018

Act: Speak: Inspire volunteers:

• Have an active faith/spiritual practice and/or a passion to live from their deepest values
• Want to grow in understanding about the plight of refugees and of global displacement
• Want to be a voice for change and a catalyst for peace among their community, friends and family
• Can commit time to the different elements of the programme; training, volunteering, Action@Home

 “I think it was an abstract political concept for my father; a group of refugees trying to enter European countries, and that before I volunteered in Calais he didn’t think of them as real people with personalities and emotions.  But that after hearing from me he thought more about what it must feel like and the desperation experienced by the refugees.” Participant 2018

Dates:

The programme runs between 20 September and 7 December 2019 with relevant training days held at weekends.  Volunteering in Calais runs from Monday 4 November to Friday 8 November (5 week days).  Full dates are given in the application form.

St Ethelburga’s has been leading short-term volunteering programmes in formal and informal refugee camps since 2016.  Our training sessions prepare you thoroughly for volunteering and sharing your story and provide inspiration to think differently about refugees, community and the world we’re living in today.

Costs:

The volunteering strand of this programme has core funding to support participants.  It covers:

• All car and ferry travel between London and Calais and transfers in Calais
• Accommodation in shared, single-sex, hostel two-bed dorms
• Breakfast

Not included in volunteering costs are:

• Lunch by small donation (€3)
• Dinner (options for self-catering)
• Personal insurance
• Visa costs (non-UK passport)
• Personal spending

If you are accepted onto the programme, you will be asked for a deposit of £50, re-payable at the end of the programme and on completion of your Action@Home.  Please contact us if the deposit prevents you from applying: jowinsloe@stethelburgas.org  or mobile: 07725954005

“I used to think I was knowledgeable when it came to the issues surrounding the refugee crisis, I used to talk about the topic passionately, I used to share statistics and talk about the failures of the international community and yet when we arrived at the camp I realised that I belonged to the group of people who was so far removed from the reality of the situation, so detached and that over time my words had grown empty and my heart numb to the suffering that was unfolding day after day.  The suffering that surrounds us that we fail to see”. Participant 2016

“For my Action@Home I felt like I had something really important to say and my personal highlight came when my guests came up to me and messaged me afterwards with further questions; what I said had stuck with them and they were still thinking about it afterwards.”Participant 2018

Watch this video of last year’s programme.

Request an application pack. 

Click this link or email jowinsloe@stethelburgas.org

Trainers and Mentors on this programme:

Habib Sadat

Habib Sadat is from Herat Afghanistan, where he spent 13 years working for the Afghan National Army alongside NATO forces. He left Afghanistan in October 2015 and after spending three months in Calais’ notorious camp, arrived in UK in June 2016. Two years later, Habib has recently been granted refugee status. Habib has been artist in residence at the Migration Museum; a chef and trustee sharing family recipes with Migrateful and, as an actor and set designer, was previously a part of PsycheDelight’s Borderline theatre productions.  Habib recently completed The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network’s (TERN) ICE Academy and is launching a business to share Afghani culture with people through his dual love of food and art.

Sukina Pilgrim

Sukina is Programme Manager of ‘Presence’, spoken word and acoutstic events at St Ethelburga’s.  Sukina is a Poet, Spoken-Word artist, Playwright, Workshop Facilitator and Event Organiser and co-founder of Muslim female Hip Hop duo, Poetic Pilgrimage. She has facilitated creative writing workshops across the world empowering communities to use the written word as a tool for dialogue and as a means for accessing their authentic voice.  Sukina has played an intrinsic role within the British Muslim creative communities as a performer and events organiser and has created platforms for many national and international Muslim artists to express themselves and launch their careers.  Her work has been featured widely on major media networks including, BBC News, World Service and Asian Network, ITV, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera.  Sukina holds a she holds a BA (Hons) Degree in English Literature and Caribbean Studies and is currently pursuing an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes.

Declan Darcy

Jo Winsloe Slater

Jo is Programme Manager of Refugee Allies at St Ethelburga’s.  She collaborates with partner organisations to bring refugee and non-refugee together building empathy and understanding one conversation and one action, at a time. She co-ordinates inclusion events at St Ethelburga’s and leads on the design and development of the volunteer programme working in informal or formal refugee camps in Europe.  Jo has worked in the non-profit sector for over twenty years.  She holds a first class BA (Hons) in Education, a Diploma in group facilitation, conflict resolution and counselling (NAOS) and is a graduate of the International School of Storytelling.