Scottish novelist Karen Campbell was part of a panel at the Mitchell Library to discuss her new book This is Where I Am, which is about a newly-arrived refugee settling into Glasgow. Karen was joined on the panel by Joe Brady, Head of Refugee Integration at Scottish Refugee Council, Tommy Taylor, a Refugee Integration Advice worker, and his client Serge, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This was different from the other Refugee Week Scotland events I had attended. I’d expected Karen to be reading from her book for the full hour, but the panel format allowed for a more informal conversation about the experiences and difficulties of arriving in a new place, unable to communicate with locals and without knowledge of their new home.
Mutual understanding
As she read her first extract, I looked to Serge as he sat on the panel with her, and from his expressions and the stories that he subsequently shared, it was clear that the two had a mutual understanding of his experience as an asylum seeker coming to Glasgow. Karen explained that her husband is a volunteer with Scottish Refugee Council, and it was his experience that originally encouraged her to write a book dealing with these issues.
Serge went on to tell other anecdotes from his time in Glasgow, and expressed his gratitude at receiving a lot of help from Scotland, such as willingness of bus drivers to give him directions. Serge knew no English when he came to Glasgow, and his fluent and entertaining stories perfectly complimented what Karen was trying to relate.
New perspective
The audience was visibly moved by the conversation they were witnessing. One woman declared that she hadn’t known the difference between the terms ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’ before she read Karen’s book, and thanked Karen for giving her a completely new perspective on her city.
Misinformation
Advice worker Tommy noted that there is a lot of misinformation out there about refugees and emphasized the importance of refugees aiding each other in integration into Scottish society. It was evident that the issues raised were having a big impact on people in the audience. One member of the audience commented afterwards that they enjoyed:
“…hearing both sides of an asylum seeker’s experience from the viewpoint of the advice worker and asylum seeker especially…feeling like laughing and crying.”
The event brought attention to a lot of problems which have arisen in the process of integrating refugees into Scotland. However, what shone through the most were the positive stories told by Serge. They were a testament to the people of Glasgow in their welcoming of refugees, and drawing nicely on the theme of this year’s Refugee Week Scotland: heritage.
Head of Integration Joe Brady summed up the theme perfectly when he said, “Heritage is not just about the past…it’s future-facing”. And by the sounds of things, Glasgow is embracing this with open arms.
