Distance: 2,500KM / 2,500KM !

Runs: 203

Funds raised: £20,430

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Thank you for all the generosity and kindness you have shown us over 2023. Aaron and I could not have reached £20,000 and 2,500 kilometres without you. Even though we raised a big chunk of cash, we agree that the most valuable thing to come out of 2023 is the positive conversations we have been able to have around immigration in the UK. 350,000+ impressions on social media, 22 press interviews, anonymous three-figure donations... We continue to be moved by the kindness of strangers.

With any luck, we hope to bring two more projects in 2024 to raise the remaining £100,000. For now, we are going to have a break with our loved ones (Freya's knees are crying out for a rest!). We hope you do too and that 2024 brings you and your communities peace. Thank you for everything you have done.

Freya, Aaron, Gina & Bail for Immigration Detainees

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Freya and Aaron believe that there are better ways towards an integrated future in the UK than painting over children's murals, inhumane detention and making illegal entry unlawful. Like their friends at Care4Calais, Right to Remain, Freedom from Torture, IMIX, Show Racism the Red Card and the Refugee Council, they strongly support the idea that human kindness and respect should be the starting point for immigration policy.

The climate towards immigration in the UK has become increasingly hostile with the introduction of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the Illegal Migration Act 2023. In response to this legislation, Freya ('The Human Disco Ball') and Aaron, both law students working in human rights, decided to work in partnership with Bail for Immigration Detainees to raise a £120,000 emergency Solidarity Fund. This fund, of which £20,390 has been raised so far, aims to provide a lifeline for refugees and asylum seekers in the UK by helping all of those in the UK detention system access free legal advice.

Freya and Aaron’s campaign has focused on bringing people together through sport and community, showcasing how refugees and migrants can be integrated into the UK in a kinder, more effective way through solidarity and positive celebration. As part of the campaign, Freya has led disco-themed warmups at Runthrough events, hosted fun runs and competitions (Blue Monday Run, Race2Crate, Mental Health Awareness Week Prize Draw), raced at Manchester, Hackney and Bristol as the Human Disco Ball, become a Run Social ambassador, protested at Secret Garden Party with DJ Kasra and mentored members of the Refugee Running Club.

The peak of the campaign so far came in June 2023, when Freya ran 200km non-stop with her friend Hamza from Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol to Brookhouse Detention Centre, near Gatwick Airport. Freya is now in the home stretch of completing her final running milestone for the campaign, which is to run 2,500km by the end of 2023.

This project emerged out of Freya and Aaron’s shared passion for human rights, as well as their personal lived experiences and mutual commitment to helping people in detention centres in the UK. The Human Disco Ball was born out of Freya’s personal mental health experiences in the past, which led her to take up running and view the sport as a lifeline. The campaign brings a hopeful message around the future of asylum seekers and refugees, aiming to bring the sports community together in solidarity and get people talking about these issues.

Since starting the campaign, Freya and Aaron have met incredible people from all walks of life who have brought the campaign to new places. This has led us to where we are today: 1,839km in and 3,000 new supporters online and around the world moving us towards a more compassionate approach towards immigration.

Media:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-67738813

https://www.itv.com/news/london/2023-02-13/human-rights-lawyer-set-to-run-2500km-for-charity-dressed-as-a-disco-ball

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-65203015

https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/08/london-woman-is-running-2500km-dressed-as-a-human-disco-ball-18401575/

https://www.bigissue.com/news/activism/changemakers-2023-refugees-and-asylum/

https://www.biduk.org/articles/solidarity-fund

BBC Sounds (10:35:22 and 12:09:01): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fjp6p3

@_humandiscoball

@biddetention

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Information about Bail for Immigration Detainees:

Bail for Immigration Detainees (‘BID) is an independent charity that exists to help people detained under immigration powers exercise their human rights. Their vision is of a world free of immigration detention, where people are not deprived of their liberty for immigration purposes or deported from the only home they know. To work towards this, BID provides free legal advice, information and representation to thousands of people held in detention across the UK while campaigning for an end to detention and unjust deportations,