Refugee Week 2016

It is odd how, when it comes to money and goods, countries are always willing to come up with agreements to make trade easier. However, when it comes to people we are growing more and more reluctant to allow freedom of movement.

Brexit might have turned such restrictions into a reality for most of us, Europeans. Nevertheless, this is and has been the reality for millions of people for a very long time.

When a new war breaks out, we start being bombarded with heart-breaking images of people leaving their houses. But as soon as it stops being a novelty, we go back to our lives and forget about those tons of people who had to flee their home countries, now are in countries where they are not wanted and whose lives are a never-ending struggle to survive.

Brits are famous for their sense of humor – smart and black at times. And so, Brexit was celebrated the same week some of us celebrated Refugee Week.

As you might know, Lon-art.org have been running a project in collaboration with Centrepoint, which is funded by the Big Lottery fund. This project aims to give young refugees in London a secure platform to reflect upon current affairs, while they can develop their technical skills.

For the celebration of Refugee Week, like we have been doing for the past 3 years, we run workshops and also showed the following video of one of youngsters that have been enjoying our project. This video tells a story about a very young man who travelled from Syria to London. It is our homage to those who keep fleeing their countries every day and facing the gruesome reality that being a refugee is.