Refugee Week

Each year, we come together in our communities alongside other organisations to celebrate Refugee Week – a nationwide festival celebrating the contributions, resilience and creativity refugees bring. As this year marks the 20^th anniversary of Refugee Week JRS UK is joining with other organisations to invite people to join in ‘20 Simple Acts’ to create community – you could do one Act, you could do all twenty Acts, or anything in between!

You could join JRS UK to ‘spread the word’ (Simple Act 15) and to re-shape the conversation, raising the voices of refugees onto a national platform. On 20^th June (which also happens to be World Refugee Day), JRS UK and the Heythrop Institute for Religion and Society are hosting a conference to do just this – ‘Refugee Stories: Changing the Narrative’ is the fruits of a collaboration between academics working in theology and related disciplines, practitioners serving refugees, and – most importantly – refugees themselves. Tickets and more information is available on the Heythrop website.

You could ‘Play with 20’ (Simple Act 6) and join us in reflecting on a 20-word piece of scripture, I quite like: “do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for those who have done this have entertained angels without realising it.” (Hebrews 13:2)

You could ‘share a 20 second message of welcome’ (Simple Act 1) – Naomi, our hosting scheme co-ordinator, has this simple invitation to share, “I’m hoping that all refugees and asylum seekers who face unwelcoming and isolating environments can find the strength to carry on in pockets of community and places of belonging”.

Or you could join us in baking a cake (Simple Act 8) and sharing it with friends old and new.

We’ll be sharing what JRS is up to this refugee week on our Facebook page and our Twitter feed, so be sure to follow us and share what you’re doing with us!