Refugees The next step

The Next Step?

  

Places of Sanctuary  

There are now 40 ‘Cities of Sanctuary’ in the UK. Places which offers a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the UK. Building a network of boroughs, towns and cities throughout the country which are proud to be places of safety for people seeking sanctuary and helping them integrate into their local communities.

The movement should be broad based in all parts of the society and places such as schools, universities, health and maternity services, theatres and arts centres, churches and other faith centres, sports, communities, businesses and homes can all become ‘places of sanctuary’. A key element of these ‘streams of sanctuary’ relationships is awareness raising, telling the true stories of refugees to those who never hear them.

At this time, should we not be thinking of stimulating this move in Lancashire? I know that Lancaster is starting, but what about your town, your borough, your city?  Building a network of places committed to this would start to address the bias in the usual reporting of migrants.

If we can demonstrate that people are willing to help; to house; to integrate refugees into their communities the politicians would have to take notice.

How does it work?

The City of Sanctuary website https://cityofsanctuary.org/ guides you through the process and gives you the opportunity to become part of a generous, movement aimed at relieving the suffering of some of the most damaged people.

Why not start the process today and do keep in touch via this blog if you start to set one up – it would be good to hear from you.