Rallying support for asylum seekers and refugees
Some 300 asylum seekers arrive in Plymouth each year. They come from all kinds of backgrounds – needing to flee their homeland for different reasons of safety, freedom, human rights or their very survival. They can be waiting years for the final decision about gaining refugee status in the UK. Meanwhile they live marginalised, lonely, homesick lives – living on £37 a week with no right to work.
Beyond Borders Totnes & District
Christmas gifts gathering
Come and make cards, write messages – and play board games! – snacks available at the café or just drop off your gift
5.30 – 8.30pm Weds 11th Dec
Totnes People’s Café
– behind The Mansion, 36a Fore St., Totnes TQ9 5RP
Bring / drop off Unwrapped gifts – such as you would give a friend or brother or sister.. (eg seasonal or special treat foods or toiletries or special items for home or warmth)
If you can’t make it, you can drop off donated gifts at the café up until 14th December
Or – make a donation by 14th and Beyond Borders will purchase gifts to add to the pile:
Sort code: 309897
Account number: 73671360
Account name: Beyond Borders Totnes & District
(Please reference any donation : Christmas gift)
(donation of ANY amount so welcome… it all adds up e.g .if 400 people were to donate just £1…)
Your Gifts for asylum seekers and refugees will be delivered to Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support in Plymouth for distribution, and to the Homeless Centre in Totnes.
Dreams Performance with Tarte Noire
Totnes Tuesday 5th November
A very special performance for your diary. An evening for sharing our dreams which the actors playback using dream theatre forms. We’d love to see you there!
Tarte Noire and Mirror Mirror exploring these themes in an atmosphere where all stories are openly welcomed and responded to through Playback Theatre.
When has JEALOUSY touched your life how have you managed these difficult feelings? When have you been full of RAGE and been able, or unable, to express it? How easy is it to find FORGIVENESS for ourselves and for those who have wronged us personally or those in a position of power and responsibility?
Come and share an evening where we help one another understand these feelings by listening to one another’s experiences and see them reflected through spontaneous theatre.
Plymouth Respect 2019
Saturday 14th September
The Festival showcases Plymouth’s diversity and enables different communities to come together and promote the intrinsic message of respect and equality for all.
Mote details as we get them, but mark your calendar and check their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/plymouthrespect/.
Friday 12th July 9pm VIGIL IN TOTNES
Totnes Civic Square
Join an hour’s candlelit vigil in solidarity with hundreds of other similar vigils in the States and across Europe…. against US internment of asylum seekers in camps and border pounds.
Meet at 8.45pm in Totnes Civic Square, for 9pm candle lighting, moment of silence and meditation, coordinated with others around the world. Bring your own candle or light. The vigil ends at 9.45pm.
This vigil is inspired by five mums in the States who just couldn’t stand aside any longer, while horrors were committed in their names.
www.lightsforliberty.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1105498456317304/
Article in the Independent HERE.
“The candle burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who ‘disappeared’. That’s what the candle is for.”
“We shine a light on the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees by the current administration. To be silent is to be complicit. To sit this out is to be complacent. Now is a time to stand for what is best in all of us, to stop the worst of us. We must stand for one another. At New Sanctuary Coalition, we hold in our hearts a vision of a world worth fighting for.” Ravi Ragbir, Executive Director of New Sanctuary Coalition
Thursday 11th July 7.45pm for 8pm
When do you feel called to cross the line and break the rules? When is it wiser or easier to obey them?
(MEN AND WOMEN)
Venue: Bogan House, High Street Totnes TQ9 5NP (opposite market square)
Suggested donations of £10/£8 but donations of all amounts welcome.
Details here.
Tuesday 25th June 7.45pm for 8pm
When do you feel called to cross the line and break the rules? When is it wiser or easier to obey them?
(WOMEN ONLY)
Venue: Bogan House, High Street Totnes TQ9 5NP (opposite market square)
Suggested donations of £10/£8 but donations of all amounts welcome.
Details here.
Exeter Refugee Week 2019 runs from Tuesday 18th to Sunday 23rd June
Here’s their website: http://refugeesupportdevon.org.uk/refugee-week/, and some flyers for their programme and a very special event at the Barnfield.
~ all welcome ~
* Entry includes Film Club membership – available on the night.
More information here.
Refugee Week 2019 runs from Saturday 15th to Friday 21st June
The University of Plymouth is hosting a whole week of free events. See their website here https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/whats-on/refugee-week-2019 or jump straight to the programme here https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/uploads/production/document/path/14/14252/RFJ36880_refugee_week_2019_Sarah_Guy_delivery_3rd_May_02.pdf
Exeter Respect 2019
Saturday 8th June 12pm – 7pm
& Sunday 9th June 11am – 6pm
On Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th June Exeter will spring to life once again in the beautiful grounds of Belmont Park to the sounds of world music & dance at The Respect Festival. For the full programme, see https://exeter-respect.org/line-up-19/.
“Styx” at Totnes Cinema 22/5 & 23/5/19 ** Wed & Thurs this week! **
Wolfgang Fischer’s timely moral thriller is one of the most focused and compassionate cinematic depictions of the refugee crisis, winning three awards at Berlin in 2018. Doors open at 7pm, showing at 8pm. Details HERE.
CRIB FESTIVAL
WELCOMING THE STRANGER
Saturday 5th January 10am – 4pm
Sunday 6th January 11.30am – 4pm
St Mary & St George Catholic Church, Totnes TQ9 5HW
There was no room in Bethlehem and they stayed in a stable.
Today we are welcoming strangers to our country, people fleeing war, famine and destitution, seeking a new start. Come and help make welcome boxes for men, women and children. Bring basic needed items to include – if you had nothing, what would you appreciate receiving? Write a message or note to include in the box.
During the crib festival shoe boxes will be available in the church.
We ask you to bring something to put in- for men, women or children.
Some will be “welcome boxes” for refugees when they arrive in Devon, distributed by the Red Cross.
Some of the boxes will go to Open Hearts Open Borders to be transported to a refugee camp at Lesvos in Greece and distributed through a Family Centre.
PAST News & Events
a sample selection of activities from the past year for you to get the flavour of the different kinds of initiatives undertaken and possibilities for involvement….
Looking Back Further
Events, activities and initiatives since the start can be found on the Events of 2018, Events of 2017, Events of 2016 and Events of 2015 pages.
Beyond Borders Totnes & District 