Opening address by Margaret Blake Chair of HBTSR

No-one wants to be a refugee. To leave home, family, job and security. Yet, worldwide, for 70 million men, women and children that is the sad reality of life for them. 80% of them find sanctuary in neighbouring countries; the others are dispersed around the world.
Europe – and in particular, the UK – only accept a small percentage of these. But I don’t want to dwell on statistics. For behind the numbers are people just like you and me; with hopes, fears and aspirations of their own.

But our society – especially the media – treat those seeking sanctuary in a very negative way. Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees – like so many other organisations – exists to counter this by providing opportunities to welcome and support those who have had to flee their homeland. Tonight, I would just like to give you an indication of what we actually do and how we work.

We are a registered charity with a membership of over 400 ; plus many more who follow us on social media. We meet monthly -at the rugby club in Talgarth – when we plan our many activities. These fall broadly into three categories: Creating a culture of hospitality, providing practical assistance and campaigning to try and influence key decision makers. That work is, of course, supplemented by necessary fundraising. So let me tell you briefly what we have done in the past year.

Welcoming.
We have held 12 ‘Welcome Days’, bringing refugees and asylum seekers to this beautiful part of Wales, offering respite and friendship – not just from group members but also from local communities. Working closely with refugee support groups in Swansea, Newport and elsewhere, We pay for transport to bring 50 – 60 people from Swansea – families and single men and women – for a day of good food, relaxation and fun activities. We have also enabled small groups of people, from the Sanctuary, Newport, to spend 3 separate days enjoying themselves at the Alder Carr Llangattock Woodland.

Seven men and women from the Swansea drop in centres were hosted by our members so that they could experience the pleasures of being a volunteer stewards at the Hay Literary Festival. Something which our friend, Otis, might like to say a little more about later this evening.

Thanks to the generosity of one of our members who has a holiday cottage here in Brecon, we have – over the year supported families (21 adults and 30 children) to have a short holiday break. They really love our beautiful scenery,the close proximity of walks along the canal and playgrounds and the friendliness of the people they meet.

People seeking sanctuary are understandably very anxious about attending official hearings and so, alongside Swansea-based volunteers and friends, some of our members are available to accompany them. That companionship is very much appreciated by the person seeking sanctuary and it does seem that barristers and judges take note when people are supported in this way.

Thanks to grant funding, we were able to Project Get Together for the second year running.

They also had the opportunity to meet with Kirsty Willians AM during the weekend. Needless to say, they all seemed to enjoy the event and friendships were forged across geographical areas.

Other activities have involved *Celebrate the contribution of people from other communities, cultures and countries facilitating a football match between a refugee team, the Kush Stars, and Talgarth football club. The right team won!
Liaising with Newport county football club for some free tickets to their matches – plus some to a match at Wembley – for members of The Sanctuary, Newport. Many of the them are now an integral part of the fan base of that team. It’s wonderful to see how a love of Football can break down barriers(Football is a great bridge across communities)

– Walking up the Skirrid with a group of sanctuary seekers as part of a national campaign to lift the ban that prevents asylum seekers from working whilst they await the results of the Tribunal – which often takes years, rather than months to resolve.

Assisting
Ever since the group began four years ago, we have sent goods and money to help refugees in this country and overseas.
Donations of Clothing, bedding and household goods for the general public are received at three ‘drop off ‘ points in Hay, Brecon and Talgarth. The items are then sorted by our members and sent down to Swansea for sorting and distribution. Some are handed out locally whilst others are bagged up and sent off to Calais and refugee camps on the continent. We are also now developing links with a refugee and asylum seeker support centre in Caldicot so that we can also deliver goods to them.

We also have a system in place that passes on bikes, no longer required by their owners, to the drop in centres in Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. There the bikes are renovated by the refugees themselves, who learn valuable maintenance skills in the process before being given the bikes to keep. This is of enormous benefit to them as they only have less than £6 per day to live on – being mobile themselves means visiting friends and access to college course become much easier.

As well as paying for the coaches for Welcome Days, the Funds that we raise are passed to different groups and organisations that are working more directly with people seeking sanctuary. These include Swansea Asylum Seekers Support, The Sanctuary, Newport, Sharetawe (who find accommodation for those who are homeless) The Ethic Youth Support team.

We also administer a Hardship Fund. Working on information and advice form the workers at the drop in centres, we make monies available to help cover the purchase of nappies, feminine hygiene and men’s toiletries- all of them very expensive items to purchase. Increasingly this year, we have made money available to pay for bus passes to enable people to attend full time study at college – in particular, their English classes.

Other essential financial help has been given as required – full details will be found in our annual report, due in January.

One of our members gives of his time and expertise voluntarily, travelling down to one of the Swansea Drop in Centres each week to teach English and deliver goods.

Campaigning.
We have highlighted injustices involving individuals, such as Otis who was summarily whisked into detention last Christmas time. We’ve also campaigned as mentioned earlier, to lift the ban on working whilst waiting for official refugee status. Currently we are participating in the campaign to end detention itself – which you will – I hope – have seen how you can help as you came in. If not, please do look on your way out. Britain is only country in Europe which detains people indefinitely; simply because they have sought sanctuary. Can you begin to imagine the feelings of people who having fled persecution now find themselves incarcerated not knowing for how long and living in fear of deportation?!
We have also met with political representatives to ask for their assistance – both with individual needs and campaigns.

I hope in this short presentation I’ve given you a flavour of the activity that lies behind the title HBTSR.
There is much more that I could say about our work but the best thing would be for you to subscribe – no cost involved- to our mailing list , or visit our website, Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter . That way you can find out in more detail what we actually do.

But before I finish, I want to pay tribute to the schools, communities, organisations, the supermarkets who donate food to our Welcome days and countless individuals who have enabled us to do all this. In the process, we have all found our own lives much enriched by the people – from many countries and different backgrounds – we have come to meet; and many individual friendships have been forged.

For no matter where we come from, we are all one people. Thank you.