The Saving Sanctuary exhibition is now on display at the Cathedral, until this Monday 29 June.

The exhibition came out of the Independent Asylum Commission's recent inquiry into the UK asylum system, work that is being taken forward nationally by the Citizens for Sanctuary campaign. Saving Sanctuary comprises a series of portraits, pictures and comments shot by award winning photography Sarah Booker.

More information on the Citizens for Sanctuary campaign can be found at www.citizensforsanctuary.org.uk.

Museums Sheffield have been putting together a display in the Our Sheffield Life and Times gallery at Weston Park Museum about refugees and asylum seekers in Sheffield, and the help and support they receive in the city.

A group of people including women from Low Edges Conversation Club who had contributed to the display and City of Sanctuary supporters [pictured] came to hear Clara Morgan, Acting Senior Curator of Social History, and Craig Barnett talk about the background to the display, and committee member Gina Clayton and Ouattara from Ivory Coast who is seeking sanctuary in Sheffield were interviewed on radio Sheffield's breakfast programme.

The display will continue until December 2009. Admission is free. For more information see the  Weston Park Museum website

Sheffield City Council has voted unanimously to adopt the City of Sanctuary Manifesto, which aims to make Sheffield a city that takes pride in the welcome it offers to people in need of safety.

The Manifesto has been developed by the movement's 90 local supporting organisations, including schools, community centres, faith groups and community forums across the city. It sets out ambitious goals for the city, including making sure that ‘asylum-seekers and refugees are fully included in the activities and membership of local community groups', and that ‘host communities receive support to enable them to integrate asylum-seekers and refugees.'

There are also goals to ensure that people seeking sanctuary in Sheffield are able to access essential services such as education, health and transport.

At the Council Meeting on 4th February, Mr David Price, the Chair of Sheffield's Church Action on Poverty group, told Councillors,

"Sheffield has often given a lead to other parts of the country. This is what happened 18 months ago when the Council pledged its support for City of Sanctuary. Since then, at least nine cities are following our lead, including Coventry, Oxford and even mighty London. But leadership brings responsibilities. We must make sure that our arrangements for refugees and asylum seekers are of the high standard set out in the City of Sanctuary Manifesto."

Sheffield is the first city to develop its own City of Sanctuary Manifesto. It is an experiment in 'bottom-up democracy', and we are delighted that it has now become official Council policy. The Council motion also requires the Chief Executive to report back within 3 months on progress made towards our goals, so watch this space...

The Swapping Stories Writing Group has found a new home, and a new tutor, and a slightly later time.

From the 23rd February we will be meeting on Monday evenings at the Northern Refugee Centre from 5.30-7.30pm with Susan Elliott Wright.

This is at Scotia Works on Leadmill Road -S1 4SE

Instead of the 1st and 3rd Mondays, it's now the second and fourth,
so we will be meeting on the 23rd February, followed by the 9th and 23rd
March.

All are welcome and only basic English is needed. 

For more information please contact Geoff on 253 6722, or nicola@cityofsanctuary.org

Are you from Sharrow?

Do you have a story to tell?

We have a new project at our centre, Learn For Life Enterprise, 241 - 243 London Road, Sheffield, S2 4NF.

We are looking for anyone from Sharrow who has a story to tell related to their background, to share their cultural experiences and personal journeys.The stories told will either be made into a film or/and displayed on a website, as pictures and a storyboard.

The five main aims of the project are:

1. To increase awareness and celebrate the cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of Sharrow through the ‘Story Board' films and website

2. To enhance communication skills, confidence and personal development

3. To break down barriers between communities within the area and encourage mutual awareness, understanding and respect

4. To provide opportunities to explore and find out about the Sharrow area and some of its history and uniqueness

5. To increase awareness of the various faiths in the area

If you are interested in taking part, please email me at:

hayley@learnforlifeenterprise.com or by phone: 0114 255 90 80

We held an amazing party to celebrate Sheffield's first year as a City of Sanctuary, at the Broomhall Centre, with West African dancing, music from Body of Sound, East Handed and Gondwana Sound, and drama from Actors for Human Rights. It was standing room only for most of the night, with an amazing mix of people of all ages and backgrounds, celebrating together.

We also gave our first City of Sanctuary awards to some of the people who have helped to make Sheffield a place of welcome and safety for everyone. We had a special award for the Danewood/Pipworth youth group from the Manor, for welcoming a local Karen refugee family into their community, and showing an example of real solidarity to all ages. Read an article about this award in The Star here.

We plan to make the party an annual event, with a bigger venue next year!

Do you have a story to tell? A voice to be heard? Do you think differences should be celebrated?
reACT's new project uses drama, story-telling, visual arts and music to explore cultural identity, inter-cultural understanding and communication between people of all ethnic origins.
The group is now meeting for one workshop every Friday between 11am-2pm at:
Point Blank Theatre Company
Unit 2, 67 Earl Street, Sheffield S1 4PY

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=67+earl+street&sll=53...
A small lunch provided within those times.
The group are working to devise and tour a multi art form performance
Please contact Shuna or Johanna on 0114 2496318 or 07908 782 712 or email shuna@squarecirclearts.co.uk for more information.

3rd November, 17th November, 1st December, 15th December, 4.45 -7pm (at the latest) at Sheffield Central Children's Library, Surrey Street, S1 1XZ

A chance for local people and those who have sought sanctuary in Sheffield to meet, share experiences and have a go at writing as well: real life, incidents, stories, poems etc, facilitated by Signposts writing tutors.

Why not come along and give it a go? Sessions are free.

Creche available. All welcome at all or any of the sessions. Only Basic English needed.

Thursday 6th November, 4th December and then first Thursday of every month - 7pm at the Welcome Centre, Nottingham Street, Pitsmoor. [Buses 47, 48, 75, 76, 88]

A regular evening of bring and share food, conversation and friendship. Single people, families and children are all welcome. People seeking sanctuary are especially welcome.

Following intense campaigning from friends and supporters, local charity volunteer Annociate Nimpagaritse from Burundi was freed from detention on Thursday 25th September, and was finally able to return to Sheffield after two weeks in various detention centres.

Abundance is a project to harvest the seasonal glut of local fruit like apples, pear and plums. Each year hundreds of fruit trees go unpicked either because people don't notice them, may not be physically able to harvest them or there are just too many fruits at one time.

Sheffield Theatres are embarking upon an exciting new project called ‘Journeys to the City'. The project will gather stories from groups and individuals about their journeys to and within the city and use them as a stimulus to be explored through performing arts, creative writing and visual art.
The diverse range of stories will be developed into an original Theatre in Schools production in March 2009.

On Friday 25 July the Walk Talk team, led by Gill Hicks, a survivor of the 7/7 London bombing, arrived in Sheffield where they were greeted by a group  of supporters, including Paul Scriven, leader of the council at the Peace Gardens.
The 200 mile walk for peace and cohesion, en route from Leeds to London, continued down the Moor to St Mary's Church then on to Sheffield United Football Ground, ending with a picnic in Mount Pleasant Park, Sharrow where we enjoyed wonderful food courtesy of Aagrah restuarants and sat and talked in the sunshine.

Thursday 31st July, 6pm at Sheffield Town Hall Reception Room

This was a huge success, as over two hundred people came to hear from refugee and migrant worker communities in the UK, and to discuss the issues directly with Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

The evening started with speeches by Babak Kouravand and Yvonne Cass sharing issues facing people seeking sanctuary in the UK, followed by David de Vern, discussing the problems migrant workers encounter and the exploitative practices that are allowed to happen through a system of 21st century slavery in the hands of appallingly underregulated gangmasters.

Nick pledged to end the practice of detention and forced removal of young people and take the management of asylum out of the remit of politicians in order to create a fairer and more efficient system with closer links to the UN Refugee Agency. He also declared his support for the campaign for the Right to Work for Asylum seekers who have been here for over 2 months, while their case is being assessed.

There were a large number of questions from the floor leaving Nick with a lot of food for thought which we hope will inform future policy making and improve the experiences of people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

The event was organised by City of Sanctuary, SYMAAG and ASSIST.

(Photo: Graham Shackleton)

We have recently formed a working group of City of Sanctuary volunteers to develop some community projects to build bridges between local people and asylum-seekers in Sheffield neighbourhoods.

A public meeting in Sheffield last night heard how local asylum seekers were suffering because of rules barring some of them from free hospital treatment. One man from Afghanistan who damaged his spine while mending a roof was eventually let off paying his bill but said he was told he couldn’t have a wheelchair. Another said he was refused medical care for his diabetes and when his sight deteriorated the local Eritrean community raised £3,000 for his treatment.

There's an interview with Craig and Babak from City of Sanctuary on Sheffield's community radio station Sheffield Live! website. To listen just follow the link here (our interview is about a third of the way into the programme.

On 7th February we held a meeting at Sheffield University to choose our priorities for Sheffield as a City of Sanctuary over the next year. Fifty supporters and representatives of supporting organisations held lively discussions and shared their ideas.

There was a broad commitment to our Manifesto of long term goals for Sheffield, (see 'Our Manifesto' link on the left).

The core priority that was identified by the meeting was on building community between local people and new arrivals, particularly in key local neighbourhoods where asylum-seekers and refugees are concentrated.

On Tuesday 18th September we held a media launch at Sheffield Town Hall with the Mayor of Sheffield and community leaders from some of our supporting organisations, including Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Hindu communities, Sheffield Hallam Student Union, Sheffield Futures, and The Co-operative group. The event was covered by BBC Radio Sheffield, Hallam FM, The Star and The Telegraph, and was picked up nationally by BBC Radio Five Live. It would be really helpful if our supporters could look out for mentions of City of Sanctuary in the media over the next few weeks, and respond to any letters or comments that are critical of the movement. It's important for us to tell our stories so that the debate isn't left to those who are hostile to refugees.

A Sheffield refugee, Martin Hadi Butimar, is campaigning with local friends to try to save the life of his brother, Hiwa Butimar - sentenced to death in Iran for his advocacy of human rights for Kurdish people. You can find out more information and contact the Iranian government directly through the campaign website here.

This letter by Graham Wroe of Sheffield Green Party was published in The Star recently:
"Dear editor,
"Many people in South Yorkshire recently faced the traumatic experience of having to leave their homes, either because of actual flooding or the threat of Ulley dam breaking. Our thoughts are very much with the people who still can't return to their homes and have lost most of their possessions.

Following the recent announcement of Sheffield becoming the first City of Sanctuary, we now need to work out a shared set of practical goals for Sheffield’s engagement with asylum-seeker and refugees. We will be asking for the views of all our supporters and aim to hold a consultation event in 2008, leading to a plan that we can all share responsibility for working towards.

Our latest City of Sanctuary Ceilidh night for Refugee week was an amazing experience of sharing cultures, music and dance. Asylum-seekers and refugees from around the world learned some traditional British dancing, and they entertained us with stunning displays of traditional costumes and African drumming.

A team of Sheffield-based asylum-seekers and refugees have started their own City of Sanctuary 'blogs' - writing about their views and experiences of life in Sheffield. Click on the 'Asylum Blogs' link in the menu above to read their work, and please leave your comments or questions for them by clicking on the 'Comments' link underneath any blog post. We are running a weekly drop-in bloggers' workshop, led by Mark Gibbens, on Wednesdays from 11am to 5pm, at Access Space, 1 Sidney St, S1 4RG. Tel:0114 249 5522 If you are a refugee or asylum-seeker, or someone who befriends or supports them, and you would like to write your own blog on this website please contact us.

Keith and Ethel Burdett gave an interview for BBC Radio Sheffield’s Breakfast Show on 14th December, to talk about the house they have bought for destitute female asylum-seekers in Gleadless Valley. Keith told how the women call them ‘Mum and Dad’, and also gave City of Sanctuary a mention. It was a really positive piece of reporting, showing just how generous and hospitable local people can be. Please let us know if you have any stories that would make a good piece for local radio or press.