Scottish Refugee Council is taking to the streets of Glasgow for Refugee Week Scotland 2014. Here’s why:
Blog by Jack Tannock, Media Volunteer
The streets of Glasgow are, to say the least, a unique experience already, so us pitching a big welcome tent in the middle of them can only make things more interesting.
It will be a Welcome Tent in more ways than one as it will be both welcoming people into Refugee Week Scotland and it will be based around the theme of ‘welcome’.
The welcome tent will be on Buchanan Street from 12 to 6pm on Saturday 14 June then on Argyle Street on Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 for the same time period. Finally on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 we will be pitching in St Enoch Square.
Come check us out if you fancy an interesting experience or even just a cup of tea!
A mini festival
Our welcome tent is set to be an interactive, artist led experience. There will be a wide variety of artistic events right across the week. We will have musical acts, choirs, workshops, visual artists and a whole menagerie of different happenings with a chance for you to get involved and create something yourself. In fact it is a miniature version of Ref
We will also be engaging the great Glaswegian public in a series of ‘Simple Acts of Welcome’ such as taking a picture with our #IWelcomeRefugees signs to share on your Facebook and Twitter profiles in support of refugees in Scotland.
You also get the chance to learn how to say ‘welcome’ in different languages or even do a quick quiz on refugees.
And the point
Our welcome tent is part of Refugee Week Scotland, a (more than) week-long celebration of the contribution refugees make to life in Scotland.
We work with refugees in Glasgow every day and so get to see the wealth of skills and talents they bring when they begin new lives in Scotland.
Refugee Week Scotland events are held across Scotland, in city centre venues and community settings.
We want everyone to have the chance to experience the colour, fun and diversity of Refugee Week Scotland so this year we are also taking to the streets of Glasgow to offer a flavour of what Refugee Week Scotland is all about. It will give those who cannot attend any of the other events a chance to still get involved, even if it is just for a moment out of their busy day.
