I am a 56-year-old toddler in this country. To start learning things from the beginning when you are in your fifties is both a great challenge and a fantastic privilege. But sometimes I do draw on my abundant pre-packed experiences. For example, my experience in collecting and telling human stories. I’ve been doing this since…
On 4 April 2019, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration published a report into immigration fees set by the Home Office. In response, we have published a briefing, calling for an overhaul of the immigration fee system and urgent reductions of those fees to truly affordable levels. We believe the current fees are…
When/if the UK leaves the EU, your status will change if you are an EEA national or if your status here depends on an EEA national. It will be a requirement for you to apply for settled status. As of 30 March 2019, the settled status scheme is officially live. You have until December 2020…
Maslenitsa is an ancient Slavic holiday marking the end of winter and the start of spring. Although originally a pagan holiday, it was appropriated by the Orthodox Church and still remains a popular and widely celebrated holiday in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Maslenitsa is the eighth week before Orthodox Easter. Many members of the Russian…
How do I give voice to the women in my family who have experienced shifting borders? How can I tell that story in a place where it isn’t welcome? How can I tell a story of displacement when the audience has no idea of the historical facts? What is more important to a writer –…
The latest in a series commenting on the representation of migrants and refugees in the media. An obnoxious customer tells a Syrian asylum claimant in a post office to eff off. Later a youth snatches his phone – the refugee’s only link with the wife and son from whom he became separated while fleeing to…
According to the European Commission, there are an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 migrants currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although it is thought that the number could be as high as 10,000. I recently travelled to Sarajevo, the country’s capital, with the art/research project Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow to work at migrant centres and camps in and around the…
We are delighted to announce that a new cross-party group of MPs is launching an inquiry into the matter of the tens of thousands of international students who were accused of cheating on an English test in 2014. We’ve been working with some of these students since 2017 and campaigning for justice alongside them –…
Triumph in the midst of adversity – that was a key sentence in the biography of Kate Iroegbu, a woman who faced many difficulties since leaving Nigeria in 2006. Now it’s also the title of her new book and the name of her company, which offers advice and coaching to people facing adversity. “I share…
Join us for creative, hands-on workshops where we will explore the possibilities of video making to tell stories of integration from our perspectives. The seven workshop sessions will: • Encourage creative expression through video making; • Develop practical, introductory video making skills; • Create powerful audio-visual messages The workshops will explore the subject…
