Rachel Morris of Oxfam’s Sanctuary in Wales project in Wrexham writes:
Our communities, including the refugees who have paid us the compliment of coming to live with us here in Wales, represent a patchwork of origins, skills, talents, hopes and dreams. We decided to celebrate Refugee Week by making a real patchwork of colourful scraps and squares of knitting which people here have been contributing to for months. The bits are by no means all the same, but then neither are those making them: people and wool pieces come in different shapes, sizes and colours. Put them together and you have something of beauty and interest which we hope to display.
Oriel Wrecsam is hosting Refugee Week events including a gallery of photographs by Sue McGrane. The images show refugees and asylum seekers holding objects of personal significance to them. Objects may seem inanimate and meaningless, but those we choose as important to us help others to see where we’ve come from and who we are. Objects of Meaning, has developed with the support of Oriel Wrexham, Wrexham County Borough Council Community Cohesion Team, the Welsh Refugee Council and Wrexham Refugee and Asylum Seekers Support Group (WRASSG).
Sanctuary in Wales is a project funded by the Big Lottery Fund Wales. It aims to tackle the issues faced by women asylum -seekers and refugees by helping them to gain access to training and jobs and be active in their communities.