A recount of an important and community focused event held for World Refugee Week.
World Refugee Week honours the strength and courage of refugees and is held to cultivate compassion for others. This week, Birkbeck School of Science hosted an interactive event exploring the theme of ‘Healing,’ to celebrate global community, mutual care, resilience, and the human ability to rise above.
The event enjoyed a full-house audience and started with a couple of short presentations to highlight some of the work going on to support refugees and forced migrants at Birkbeck.
Stories and Supper is a refugee and migrant supper club project based in Walthamstow, East London which seeks to challenge the myths surrounding the migration ‘crisis’ and provide a welcome space for refugees living in London. Helen Taylor and Olivia Sheringham shared the journey of their project in an engaging presentation.
Isabelle Habib then presented an outstanding success of Birkbeck’s very own Compass Project, while some students from the School of Science shared their learning journey and experiences. Staff from the School of Science attended the event and interacted with the students too. After the presentations, the community spirit continued over refreshments, where good food and stories were shared.
Co-organisers of the event, Katherine Thompson and Sanjib Bhakta commented:
“It was great to hear the success ‘Stories and Supper’ and ‘Compass’ projects and appreciate the enormous contribution that they are making to our diverse international community. We really hope the event leads to more support for refugees and hopefully new links at Birkbeck for such collaborative initiatives.”
Hosts:
Katherine Thompson (AD Equalities, Diversities, and Inclusion)
Sanjib Bhakta (AD Internationalisation and Partnerships)
School of Science
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