Refugee boy - radio podcast with Lemn Sissay and Benjamin Zephaniah

Refugee Journalist, Zwedu Mengiste, interviews Lemn Sissay and Benjamin Zephaniah about the new adaption of Refugee Boy for West Yorkshire Playhouse

Mengiste, from Ethiopia, encourages Sissay and Zephaniah to talk about themselves, their work, migration, human nature and how Sissay feels he's following in Zephaniah's foosteps.

Quotes from the podcast:

"Kindness is a language, honesty and openness are languages... we need to employ them to their fullest." 

Lemn Sissay

"Every time you hear so many thousand refugees... everyone one of those individuals is alive... not just a statistic. A lot of people in England can be lazy in their thinking." 

Benjamin Zephaniah

"One of the advantages of being in Britain is that you can have friends from all over the world and get a flavour of it, and from all different sides of a dispute".- Benjamin Zephaniah

"Mankind didn't evolve in Britain...Borders are man made - we are one people". - Benjamin Zephaniah

"Migration is part of who we are.. Immigration and migration are part of what it is to be human." - Lemn Sissay

To listen to this 23 minute Lucy Radio interview please click to download the podcast from the following dropbox public folder.

Benjamin Zephaniah - Lemn Sissay interview

Refugee Boy review

On Wednesday 13 March, the West Yorkshire Playhouse hosted the press night of their adaption of Benjamin Zephaniah’s novel ‘Refugee Boy.’ Zephaniah’s novel is a fictional portrayal of a boy, Alem, who leaves Ethiopia during the civil war in the late 90s and seeks refuge in Britain. The set of the play, designed by Emma Williams, is open plan and multi-dimensional, with stacked suitcases alluding to Alem’s quest for sanctuary and to ultimately shed his refugee boy status. Fisayo Akinade’s portrayal of Alem is well-crafted and depicts a sweet, dynamic and enterprising boy who tries his hardest to assimilate into British culture. Such a depiction challenges the negative perception of refugees and asylum seekers; Alem is brave, polite, cheerful and immensely likeable. As the play progresses he develops genuine friendships with his car-obsessed, care home companion Mustafa, and foster sister Ruth. Nevertheless, frequent flashbacks to his homeland and glimpses of marauding soldiers threatening his parents jar with his increasingly stable domestic set up, and remind the audience of his underlying anguish and painful journey.

The play repeatedly refers to a moment before Alem’s separation from his parents, when he is with his father counting the stars in the British sky; his father’s insistence that Alem counts in English re-emphasises his good intentions and aspirations for his son. When Alem’s mother is killed, his father returns to Britain to be reunited with his son; whilst the two of them negotiate the formalities of the Refugee Council, in a bitter twist of fate Alem’s father, having escaped the violence and brutality of his homeland, is murdered in Britain.

Sissay’s adaption of ‘Refugee Boy’ is a humorous, moving and compelling drama with thought-provoking performances. Alem’s story may be one of many, but the play highlights the complexities of his situation and widespread impact of his search for asylum. His foster family provide him with a sense of belonging, yet have to relinquish their care upon his father’s arrival, and the emotional trauma of such an occurrence is keenly felt. Perhaps most importantly, ‘Refugee Boy’ discourages generalizations and impresses that those with refugee status should not be reduced to a mere statistic but, like those of us holding citizenship, are similarly individuals with personal dreams, stories and affections.

Charlie Duffield 

March 4th Amnesty International and STAR Sleep Out

In the UK every year thousands of asylum seekers and refugees are refused asylum by the UK government. As a result of government policy they are forced into a life of destitution in order to encourage them to leave the UK. Asylum seekers and refugees are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, fleeing from horrors such as war or persecution. Instead of receiving the UK government's support they are faced with destitution, leaving them penniless and potentially homeless if their asylum application is refused. Groups all across the UK have come together to raise awareness about this issue, pushing towards a future where refugees and asylum seekers are provided with some financial support and help from the UK.  Amnesty International are working with the 'Still Human, Still Here,' campaign (http:stillhumanstillhere.wordpress.com/) to try and provide better living conditions and a fair asylum system in a manner of ways. This aims to be done by researching aspects of asylum policy and practices, coming up with ideas and proposals on how to improve these, and putting forward these proposals to the government.

Student groups all across the UK have also been staging sleep outs and the Leeds University Union Amnesty International Society will be working with the student group STAR (Student Action For Refugees), braving Leeds' blustery winter weather in hosting their annual Sleep Out outside the Union on Monday March 4^th. The aim of this event is to raise awareness, money and donations of essential items (such as food, toiletries and warm winter clothes) for those refused refugees and asylum seekers who are not provided with any help and support from us in the UK. The idea is to have a fun and social evening whilst focusing on the immoral and unjust way thousands of people fleeing to the UK are treated each year. The night will feature various forms of entertainment (from fun societies such as Circus Soc and Swing Soc), food and hot drinks and hopefully some speakers from refugee charities who can share with us tales of their own experiences. Our sleep out is NOT a student-only event, and everyone who wants to join us is welcome to. Last year's event was a huge success, with students shivering shoulder to shoulder with non-students who happily gave up their night in solidarity with destitute asylum seekers. So, come armed with warm clothes, sleeping bags and as much as you're able to donate and arrive any time after 8pm outside Leeds University Union building. It doesn't matter whether you're planning to sleep out the entire night or to just come and join in for a couple of hours, we welcome any contributions. It will be great for us all to experience, just a little, what it is like for those scared people who merely seek a little help and support from us and our country!

By Kataya Bernatavicius

From Amnesty International Student Society

http://www.facebook.com/events/432344180179614

The Reality of 'Big Society'

Most of us are probably familiar with the idea of ‘Big Society’. David Cameron and his campaign team did their best to make sure we didn’t forget it in the lead up to the 2010 election. It was a great way for the Conservatives to frame their economic plans – huge spending cuts would be offset by a ‘Big Society’ picking up the slack. While the idea wasn’t exactly a massive vote winner, the Tories endured with it until a short time after the election when the term became politically useless and began to be omitted from the vocabulary of senior Conservatives. However, with each passing month under this government, the reality of ‘Big Society’ is becoming much clearer. It is not exactly surprising that it has been a failure, but that doesn’t make it any less painful to watch as the most deprived in our society are made to suffer. For those of us involved in the voluntary sector, the view is all too clear.

One of the reasons that the ‘Big Society’ idea was so defunct from the start was that, as well as big cuts to education, transport, policing and welfare, the government also decided to slash funding for the voluntary sector. In a time of economic hardship, when charitable donations go down by default, it seems fairly ludicrous to expect this sector to pick up the government’s slack, particularly on the back of huge cuts to it. It owes partly to this fact that ‘Big Society’ was dropped from the discourse of politicians. Instead, cuts have repeatedly been referred to as “tough but necessary” choices being made by politicians who claim “we’re all in this together”. I think it is safe to say we are not.

Refugees and asylum seekers are among the worst affected by these cuts. The recent inquiry into asylum support for children and young people, summarised here, showed that the government is leaving children, in particular, woefully unsupported. The voluntary sector is being left not just to support them a little, but to support them entirely. The report showed that many children rely on charities for food, and the government can no longer claim to be ignorant of this now it has been published. This is the reality of ‘Big Society’. The neediest people in our society are being knowingly neglected by the government and, as each new cut takes effect, the situation worsens. It is clear to see that, while the charitable sector may be more sensitive to the needs of the deprived, the gulf in resources between this sector and the government is far too great to expect equivalent capabilities.

Furthermore, there is a gap between the reality and the politics when it comes to certain cuts. In times of hardship, the need for welfare increases. But recipients of welfare, particularly those not originally from the UK, are by far the easiest to scapegoat. The government gleefully obliges. What is so often forgotten is the level of poverty involved here, as well as the number of children whose development is being blighted by abject poverty. Tough but necessary choices? Is it really “necessary” to give those earning over £150,000 per year a tax cut while asylum seekers are sometimes left with less than 70% of JSA to support their families? The government is happy to pay for tax cuts for the rich but it is ‘Big Society’ who pays for food for hungry children. The closer we get to the next election, the more important it is that those in the voluntary sector use their voice to demonstrate just what a failure ‘Big Society’ has been and campaign for a change in priority in the spending habits of our government. And I suggest they could start with reform of the asylum support system.

Please take one minute (literally) out of your day to get the Children's Society to contact your local MP on your behalf and encourage them to take action on this issue! action.childrenssociety.org.uk/page/speakout/asylum-support

How many asylum seekers come to Britain?

This briefing sets out key facts and figures, as well as information gaps, relating to the number of asylum seekers applying to stay in the UK, who these asylum seekers are, how many are rejected, what the overall impacts of asylum seekers are on UK migration statistics and what happens to asylum seekers after their applications have been processed

How many asylum applicants does Britain receive compared to her European neighbors? This and more information in University of Oxford's Migration Observatory briefing on asylum.

http://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/migration-uk-asylum

End forced destitution

The asylum system often lets down young people and their families, leaving them vulnerable and forced to survive far below the poverty line. The recent parliamentary inquiry from the Children's Society uncovered the same situation for these vulnerable families. They described a situation that often leaves young people vulnerable and far below the poverty line, and the report called for the Home Office to make urgent changes to the asylum-support system.

Please join us the Children's Society in demanding change, so that no child, no matter where they are from, ever has to suffer inhumanely. The link below explains more and provides an easy way for you to contact your MP.

http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-you-can-do/campaign-join/end-forced-destitution