The Sanctuary organisation is a national volunteer movement devoted to offering a welcome and safety for people fleeing violence and persecution. In Brighton, that is the very active Sanctuary on Sea, chaired by Richard Williams, where they:
– Focus on creating welcoming environments in school
– Find accommodation for refugees coming under the Syrian vulnerable persons scheme
– Support other refugee-related organisations in Brighton
– Organise meetings and cultural events, especially as part of Refugee Week from 18-24 June this year
This is valuable work and another example of the many grass-roots solidarity in local communities across the UK. But the country could do more and small things can make a difference. We talk about that and some of the changes that Richard has seen over the 20 years he has been working with refugees, not least in the rise of the costly ‘refugee industry’.
How about instead of spending all those billions keeping people out, we invest in these grass-roots initiatives to welcome people in?
New to Podcasts?
You can listen online by pressing play above. Or you can download it by clicking on the little down arrow.
A better idea is to have our weekly episodes automatically downloaded to your mobile so you never miss one. You will need a podcast or podcatcher app.
On an iPhone: ‘Podcasts’ is already on your phone. Open the app, search for ‘Standing with Refugees’, click on our show (it has our red logo), then click Subscribe.
With iTunes: Open iTunes, search for ‘Standing with Refugees’, click on our show (it has our red logo), then click Subscribe. Or just click on this Apple Podcasts logo and View in iTunes:
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Then, every Monday morning, our show will magically appear on your mobile and you can listen wherever and whenever you want. These apps have setting so that they will only download over WiFi so they don’t use up your data allowance, and they will remove the episode after listening so they don’t take up your memory.
