Refugee Week 2021: We cannot walk alone

If you have a Refugee Week event that you want us to mention below, please do contact us at info@qarn.org.uk.

From Refugee Week organisers: Theme of Refugee Week 2021: We Cannot Walk Alone

There is a moment in Martin Luther King’s historic ‘I have a dream’ speech when he turns his attention to the White people who, realising their destiny and that of their Black fellow citizens was intertwined, joined the movement for equal rights.

“They have come to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom,” he said. “We cannot walk alone.”[…]

The theme of Refugee Week 2021, ‘We Cannot Walk Alone’, is an invitation to extend your hand to someone new. Someone who is outside your current circle, has had an experience you haven’t, or is fighting for a cause you aren’t yet involved in.

Whoever and wherever you are, we hope you’ll join us in making Refugee Week 2021 a bold, collective act of reaching out; a space for us all to listen, to exchange and connect. To find out what we can learn from each other, and what we can build together.

Refugee Week 2021 is 14-20 June, and anyone can get involved by holding or taking part in an event or activity.

We will be sharing resources and ideas for activities in the coming months – sign up to our newsletter to keep in touch.

For Refugee Week 2021 (14-20 June) we’re inviting you to do one or more of these eight Simple Acts, inspired by the theme ‘We Cannot Walk Alone’.

#RefugeeWeek2021 #SimpleActs

Tell us about your event:

*Friends House, Moscow: To mark World Refugee Day 2021, our latest newsletter looks at refugees and migrants in Russia – the legal situation, what the numbers look like, how people arrived, and how asylum-seekers live.

We also look at the Friends House Moscow projects that help children of refugees and migrants – with education, learning Russian, and integrating into society.

About World Refugee Day: World Refugee Day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honour refugees around the globe. It falls each year on June 20 and celebrates the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution. World Refugee Day is an occasion to build empathy and understanding for their plight and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.
Different countries mark World Refugee Day in different ways, led by governments, local
authorities, or NGOs and charities. In the UK, the Refugee Council organises an entire Refugee Week (the theme this year being “We do not walk alone”) in which many Quakers are involved.
28th July 2021 marks the 70th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention

*Choose Love/Help Refugees:

While the government plans to introduce new hostile policies towards people seeking safety – we’re supporting groups across the UK giving the welcome everyone deserves. From food and emergency accommodation to LGBT+ support, legal aid and psychological support to help people on the road to rebuilding their lives.

This Refugee Week, will you join us to show welcome?

Donate to support welcome: why not support the UK groups stepping up to give the help all people deserve – donate to our welcome fundraiser.
Run a fundraiser: whether it’s a sponsored run, a BBQ supper club (if the weather holds!), recreating your fave festival in your garden, or celebrating finally meeting up with a loved one after so long apart – it takes just a few minutes to set up a fundraiser.
Get creative: we’ve put together simple creative activities celebrating compassion, kindness and showing welcome for children to do at home or school.
Download a pdf of children’s activities.
If you run your own business: you might have a product which you’d like to donate a percentage of sales, or a newsletter where you could showcase our work. You might want to create a limited edition Choose Love product – or run an auction, raffle or giveaway. However you’d like to help raise funds, we can supply image assets to help you post about it, alongside potential exposure on our socials.
Most importantly, you’ll have the knowledge you’re standing with refugees around the world!
Email contact@choose.love to chat.
If you’d like to chat more about getting involved in showing welcome, please get in touch.
With love, Philli and the Choose Love team x

This Refugee Week (14-20 June) we want to fill our windows, streets and classrooms with messages of welcome!

We’ve put together some simple creative activities for children to do either at school or at home. These activities are mainly designed for younger children, but we’ve included some ideas for older children too. The focus is on compassion, kindness and showing welcome to those who need it.

Download the Choose Love Refugee Week resource pack (pdf).