Supporting, empowering, and celebrating the Refugee Community
Refugee Week (20th to 26th of June) is a festival focused on supporting and empowering refugees and asylum seekers, celebrating their contributions, and developing avenues for refugees to integrate into their new communities.
Photo by Ricardo Gomez on Unsplash
Founded in 1998, Refugee Week starts on Refugee Day (20th June) and is an umbrella festival for all sorts of events that all aim to increase inclusion and awareness for refugees.
The U.K.’s recent policy on deporting asylum seekers
The UK has recently introduced a policy whereby people seeking asylum will instead be transported to Rwanda, a country known for human rights violations, rather than being aided by and integrated into the UK. This has caused widespread protests across the board, including from UK opposition politicians and U.N. commissioners.
We at goodfind share the view that this system is a violation of the UK’s responsibilities to asylum seekers and refugees – learn more and discover how to campaign at Refugee Action.
Why do we have Refugee Week?
Many people across the world are victims of displacement - forced to flee their homes and seek refuge/safety elsewhere. No matter the circumstances, displacement is a hugely life-altering event, and it can be extremely difficult for refugees to integrate into a new and very different community whilst trying to address the massive change in their lives. Often, refugees are forced to leave places that their family have occupied for generations.
People can be left feeling isolated and overwhelmed by the lack of employment options, very few peers who have experienced similar events, and lack of options to socialise.
Refugee Week recognises the importance of giving each refugee their own platform to share their stories, as well as creating inclusive communities and opportunities to connect across people’s differences. It also seeks to challenge negative stereotypes and celebrate the contributions that refugees make to society.
How you can help
We at Goodfind have plenty of awesome brands that are here to help you make a difference to the lives of refugees in the UK and worldwide. Last year, we spoke to Pranav Chopra, founder and CEO of NEMI Teas – a London based tea company supporting refugees – to find out more about why their work is so important.
Here are a few more incredible brands who support the refugee community.
Haven Coffee
Haven Coffee serves ethically sourced fair trade quality cups of coffee to local communities with a social mission of empowering and supporting refugees by giving them paid barista training so they can be integrated into the UK society through work, along with promoting refugee artists, in an effort to narrow the gap between Refugees and UK society.
Haven Coffee also regularly host events, from courses to festivals to talks - find their next event here!
Breadwinners
Breadwinners use their bread stalls in markets across London to provide both training and paid employment for refugees as market stall managers. They are dedicated to creating self-sustaining market stalls to contribute to the economy and tackle negative refugee bias in the UK.
Choose Love
Choose Love invites visitors to “shop your heart out, leave with nothing, and feel the love”. Shoppers can buy a range of items for refugees, including kid’s coats, sleeping bags, emergency blankets and solar lamps. They have reached over 1 million refugees worldwide through their incredible work.
NEMI Teas
Offering delicious (and biodegradable) tea, NEMI Teas employs refugees to run tea stalls across London food markets, festivals, Events and conferences which allows refugees to boost their English skills, regain confidence and work on skills required to enter the UK job market.
Migrateful
Migrateful runs cookery classes by migrants struggling to integrate due to language barriers and lack of UK recognised qualifications. Its purpose is to help refugees and asylum seekers find employment and independence, training them to become cookery class teachers of their native cuisines.
Find a local or virtual cookery class and discover some incredible cuisines whilst supporting the lives of refugees across the UK!
Anqa Collective
Anqa Collective is a marketplace for refugee-led businesses, selling products and experiences from a new generation of refugee entrepreneurs, with a wide range of products available. For Refugee Week 2022, Anqa Collective vendors have created a special product range inspired by this year’s theme of ‘healing’ – shop here to support the cause!
Love Welcomes
Love Welcomes launched in 2017 and now works in Greece as well as other locations supporting refugees in camps and those who have been resettled. Their team of refugee women upcycles materials into beautiful handmade products. They provide training, jobs, skills, and other support for displaced people. Shop now to support refugee communities!
Looking for even more brands? We’ve got tons more listed on our website - check them out!
Refugee Day/week remains hugely imperative to changing the way people view the entire refugee community, as well as integrating those who have experienced displacement into employment and social activities. Find other ways to get involved here!
Words by Emily Weedon