Thank you for all of your support this last year, and with your help we can keep running trips out in Yorkshire for Refugee families in 2017.   In 2016, we raised over £2000, held 7 day trips  plus a residential trip to Scargill, and brought over 60 refugee families to enjoy Wharfdale's scenery and hospitality.  So a massive Thank you!  We want to build on this success with your help.  

These trips provide an invaluable opportunity for families to get much needed breaks, make new friends, see parts of the country that they are new to and to feel a sense of welcome from local people.  

One mother  said this of one of the trips, "Getting out of the city, and being in this beautiful place, I can breathe again. I feel human again. I don't have to be an asylum seeker just for these days." 

Not only do the trips provide a break and breathing room for refugee families under stress, they have provided a great opportunity for local Wharfdale residents and refugees to come together to share stories, experiences and fun.  This is an important aspect in our ever more polarising world.  

A bit about who we are:

Refugee Action in Bradford, run a Children and Families project offering group and one to one support for families going through the asylum system and newly arrived refugee families.   

We are excited about our links with some fantastic organisers and organisations (including St. Margaret's Church and Wharfdale Refugee Response) in Ilkley and Burley since April 2016.  We have made links with some very committed local people who have brought together volunteers and made some great trips happen over the past year to share some of the beauty and great hospitality of West Yorkshire to asylum seeking and refugee families new to Bradford.  

All too often the media narrative around refugees, means that people seeking sanctuary in the UK are made to feel unwelcome.  But we know there are many British people who are wanting to offer hospitality to those seeking a safe place.  The day out trips to Ilkley and Burley have meant that refugees are able to have a break out of the difficult situation they currently find themselves in  to experience some of the beauty and hospitality of local people from West Yorkshire, and local people are able to share wtih and meet some very resiliant refugees who they may have only heard misrepresented in the media.

Since  Summer 2016,  we have had 7 trips out, inclucing, a walk up Ilkley Moor and lunch at St. Margaret's Church, a picnic by the river and a play at Dan's Den and Clip and Climb, the Burley Festival, Christmas Meal at St. Margarets, Bradford party,  a fun day in Burley and a walk in the bluebell woods.  

Many volunteers from Ilkley and Burley shared their time and skills to welcome and play with children from all over the world, including Sudan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Congo, Burma, Pakistan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Libya, Syria, and Iran.  In total the  trips have 238 brought refugee parents and children to Ilkley and Burley.  Special thanks to the many who gave time and food in kind, and to Dan's Den and Clip n Climb who donated free play spaces, Northern Rail who provided free rail travel, St. Margaret's Church and All Saints Church Ilkley.  

In November, some of the refugee families hosted a party,  inviting some of the volunteers from Ilkley to a multicultural meal in Bradford.

We have more plans for the coming year which we would love your help with.

How the links were made:

In April 2016, some individuals from Ilkley offered to drive to Bradford and pick up refugee families to take them to Scargill House in the Dales for a 3 day residential, share lunch and then return 3 days later to take them back home.  Not only did this enable these families to physically get to the residential, but it offered a unique opportunity  for people in Ilkley to meet and offer practical support to some very resilient refugeefamilies from all over the world, places including Syria, Sudan, Sri  Lanka, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Pakistan, and Iraq. 

Going through the asylum system is a very stressful process.  People who have fled their own countries looking for safety then have to go through the asylum process in this country, which may take  months to years.  This process is full of uncertainty, no right to work, and people are expected to live on £5 per day.  People often comment about not feeling like they are treated with dignity or as a human.  

We hope to continue  to bring 10-12 families for each trip. A combined rail/bus fare costs £12 per family. So we need roughly £144 for travel for each trip, plus costs for food or any possible entrance fees needed.  

Thanks for your support, all of the money raised will go directly to making these trips happen! Any excess money raised will go straight back into our Children and Families project to continue to provide trips out for families throughout the coming year.

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