Many events have taken place across Scotland in the year since the Cup of Tea with a Refugee campaign was formally launched in 2016, from Glasgow Night Shelter to Edinburgh’s McDonald Road Library, from the Whiteinch Centre in Glasgow to the Edinburgh Jewish Community. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
The campaign was launched to encourage positive attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P68wATznni0&feature=youtu.be
There have also been handouts of thousands of tea leaflets, with refugee tea stories and recipes, as well as free tea, to the public and office workers on Edinburgh’s Princes Street, Glasgow’s Buchanan Street and at Glasgow’s Atlantic Quay, as well as at sector events such as Church of Scotland and Oxfam conferences.
Press coverage has been heartwarming, from Daily Record and Scottish Sun coverage at the outset of the campaign to coverage of the recent Cup of Tea with a Refugee Week as far away as Orkney.
Comments from events included: “Fantastic idea”, “Real community”, “What a lovely way to bring people together”.
“The event went well and was relaxed, it’s a really good idea.”
“We didn’t need to ask people whether they had enjoyed the evening because everyone was smiling and laughing and leaving with different people alongside them to those who they arrived with.”
“Watching conversations happen amongst people who five minutes earlier were not only strangers but were apprehensive was both fascinating and wonderful.”
The campaign will continue next year, keep an eye on our social media for upcoming events.
To find out more about Cup of Tea with a Refugee, and to download an event pack and host your own event, go to Cup of Tea with a Refugee website.
