Refugee week – Different Pasts, Shared Future.

Refugee week runs from 14-20 June 2010. Refugee Week is a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities.

The purpose of Refugee Week is to deliver positive educational messages that counter fear, ignorance and negative stereotypes of refugees and promote understanding about the reasons why people seek sanctuary.

Refugee Week

During Refugee Week hundreds of events exploring refugee experiences take place across  the UK. These range from small community and school activities to art exhibitions, political debates, film screenings, conferences, big music festivals and sports events.

The theme this year is the “Simple Acts Campaign” which is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to change perceptions of refugees.

Simple acts campaign

The Simple Acts Campaign consists of 20 actions that can be done by anyone which encourage us to learn and do more with refugees. Suggestions include cooking a meal from another country and telling a child a story from another country.

With every person who joins the campaign and does a small thing with and for refugees, we get a little closer to removing barriers between communities and to creating the kind of world we all want to live in.

There are even lesson plans, which could be adapted for home schooling available on the site.