Having
never really got to grips with geography or modern studies at school, I
must admit I questioned the Council’s wisdom in approaching me but as
the focus of this year’s event is Home and what it means to refugees
now making a life in Glasgow, I thought I would at least be able to
contribute to this having lived in the fair city for 20 years now. 20
years? How the hell did that happen?
Myself,
John Byrne
and a few other folks who I didn’t have the opportunity to meet were
invited to ‘interview’ a few refugees who now live in Glasgow and are
making a new home here, leaving behind an unimaginable troubled past in
the country they had to flee. The interviews were recorded and I
believe can be found on YouTube and various other places on the
internet.
It was a quite unique experience to take part in. I
visited a couple of women in their flats in Glasgow and they proceeded
to give me their own personal account of what life had been like for
them since arriving here. Despite the fact that they may have no
possessions to speak of, have family remaining in their home country
and an uncertain future, these women were both extremely positive about
and extremely appreciative of their current position. What they wanted
out of life was by the standards of the West modest but their
appreciation of it apparent. They were both studying or planning to
study, with high profile jobs or achievements already behind them, and
with plans of work helping future refugees in their sights.
Having
somewhat disappointingly been warned of Glasgow being ‘racist and
dangerous’ before they arrived here they happily have both had a very
positive experience settling in, finding the city’s people to be
consistently helpful, approachable, supportive and sympathetic to their
position. The media does have a lot to answer for in my opinion
prolonging negative coverage of supposed racist attitudes in Scotland,
and the UK for that matter, but the accounts of these 2 women would
support the fact that Glasgow is a wonderfully welcoming city and one
that they now happily see as home.
It’s only too easy to just
have a rough awareness of these issues, gradually borne through media
and third party experience, but I must admit that to actually take part
in something has made the whole reality of the situation much more
tangible and digestible to me.
If you fancy taking part, going
along to one of the many events or just reading a bit more to find out
the background of many of our country’s refugees take a look at the
Refugee Week
Events list and
Simple Acts campaign.