Initiatives of Change's Refugee's as Rebuilders talk inspires Thatcham

Thatcham was a part of something bigger last weekend in an online event that brought refugees together through stories and discussion.

The Refugees as Rebuilders event, which was held via Zoom, was named to reflect the roles that refugees play as rebuilders within their host countries as well as their countries of origin.

People from around West Berkshire joined a wider community of refugees and volunteers to hear each other’s stories.

Refugees as Rebuilders member and Thatcham resident Howard Grace was in attendance and spoke of its success.

Mr Grace spent 14 years with global non-governmental organisation Initiatives of Change, which hosted the Refugees as Rebuilders event, and spent many years overseas.

He spent the final four years in South Africa, in the 1970s, where he supported friends who were engaged in bringing change to the then apartheid system.

He said: “Eventually, I fell foul of the security police there and had to beat a hasty retreat back to the UK with my wife and two young daughters under the age of two.

“That departure from South Africa was a very painful time.

“But it is absolutely nothing compared with what millions of asylum seekers and refugees go through when they leave their own country and after terrible journeys end up in countries which are not their own and often not knowing the language.”

Mr Grace, who later became a teacher at St Bartholomew’s School in Newbury, now engages in the community building event in conjunction with the Thatcham Festival.

This year 30 participants from various backgrounds united for an open discussion about their lives.

Local contributors included Ugandan refugee Pragna Hay – who was forced to leave her home country at the age of six – and lead volunteer with West Berkshire Action for Refugees Karen Reeve.

Ms Reeve shared with the group the work she has been doing with asylum seekers who have been staying at the Regency Park Hotel in Thatcham.

Mr Grace said participants were able to reflect on how what they had heard had resonated with them.

Mr Grace also said it was “heart-touching” to see London-based Ukrainian refugee Ira Mushkina, whose husband is in Ukraine fighting on the front line, set the scene with a piano recital at the beginning of the online event.

Programme manager of Initiatives of Change Dr Muna Ismail, a Somalian refugee, joined from London and told the group about her experience of arriving in the UK.

She said: “Like many refugee individuals, when I had first arrived, I didn’t have much social capital, in fact, I didn’t have anything.

“I had to negotiate my way through the urban diversity of London.

“I had to rely on the guidance and kindness of strangers, who helped with my self-development and education.”

She continued: “We live in a world where millions of people are displaced, across borders, and, in many cases, continents.

“And despite the magnitude of this international challenge, a coherent global response to the migration crisis is missing.”

Mr Grace said the event received glowing reviews from those who attended including one from a friend from the US who said: “I am so glad I attended the Thatcham Festival on Saturday.

“I thought the content and facilitation was some of the best I have experienced."