Today's Sheffield Star features an article trumpeting the City Council's
support to making Sheffield a City of Sanctuary for refugees and asylum
seekers. It also reports a few ways in which the city may become more
welcoming.

The Star then asks for readers' reactions via its Daily Vote. This asks
people to text the answer YES or NO to the Question:

Should Sheffield do more to welcome refugees?

By responding YES we are seizing an opportunity to set down a marker
that many in Sheffield DO want to extend a better welcome to refugees and
asylum seekers. There may also be a negative responses to this question that
it would be good to speak out against.

If you wish to register your opinion on "Todays vote" you simply text
STARVOTE followed by a space and your answer YES followed by STOP
if you don't want to receive more stuff from the Star. It should be sent
to 81800 and costs 60p plus standard network rates.

Since they run different votes each day, this probably needs to be done
within the next 24 hours.

The article appears in todays paper under the headline "Asylum seekers
feel safe in city - support given for integration". It is also on their website at: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Asylum-seekers-feel-safe-in.5387216.jp

You can also vote online for free at this page.

If you read the Star regularly please also keep a look out in the next
few days in case there are negative reactions that could be countered. Even
better would be letters to the editor in support of Sheffield become
more welcoming to refugees.

Thanks for helping us articulate the voice of the silent majority.

The Karen Community from Burma
Teachers Day celebrations
Cemetery Road Baptist Church Hall, 11 Napier Street, Sheffield, S11 8HA
2nd July 2009, 7pm -9:30pm

An evening of singing and dancing and and delicious Burmese food. Please come and help raise funds for the new arrivals to the refugee camps on the Thai Burma border. There will be a small charge for the food of £3 per dish or £10 to try everything/
For more information and to rsvp please contact Htooku@yahoo.co.uk
07940522425

Looking for new ideas in integration?
Sheffield City of Sanctuary has been singled out by an international initiative that promotes integration.  It will be featured during Refugee Week (June 15-21) on the ‘Cities of ‘Migration' website. This features ‘good ideas' from around the world about how global cities help to integrate immigrants in different areas of life, for others to learn from and adapt to their own situations.  Examples include how in East London LloydsTSB targets recruits from local ethnic minorities to help tailor services to local customers; another shows how the police in Cardiff are using ESOL classes to help migrants understand British policing.  www.citiesofmigration.ca
For further information please contact: sarah@cityofsanctuary.org

CORRECTION TO REFUGEE WEEK PUBLICITY MATERIAL
The Sheffield All Nations Tournament is happening on Sunday June 21st
2noon - 5pm
Sheffield All Nations Tournament - refugee and asylum seeker football competition
Goodwin Sports Field, Northumberland Road, S10 2TY
Organised by Football Unites, Racism Divides (FURD) in partnership with the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA.
Contact: Desbon Bushiri: 0114 255 3156; desbon@furd.org

This has previously been advertised as being on the Saturday 20th June.

Sheffield Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers (CDAS)  Benefit Gig
Friday 12th June, 7.30pm -11.30pm
Cafe Euro, John Street, just off Bramall Lane and London Road.

An evening of music with The Sicknotes and Joe Wan and Aalok, joining the Na Zdrove House Band for a curtain-raising event on the eve of Refugee Week.
Admission is £5 (£3 unwaged)
FREE to asylum seekers and all proceeds go to Sheffield CDAS.

Refugee Week is a countrywide programme of arts, cultural and educational events, held to celebrate the contribution refugees make to the UK.  Refugee Week 2009 takes place nationally from 15-21 June. To find out more about Refugee Week, its purpose and history visit the national Refugee Week website.

In Sheffield, Refugee Week will be officially launched by the Lord Mayor, at a free celebration event held on Devonshire Green on Saturday 13 June, 10am-6pm.  Many different events and activities are taking place throughout the week including:

film screenings
musical performances
book launches
football tournaments
dramatic performances
exhibitions

The full Refugee Week 2009 programme leaflet is downloadable from www.nrcentre.org.uk

Saturday June 13th

10am-6pm
"Together in Sheffield" and Refugee Week launch
The Lord Mayor of Sheffield launches Refugee Week 2009 with a concert of music, dancing, martial arts and a video exhibition by IOM
Devonshire Green, Division Street, S1
Contact: Ouattara: 07944551004; ouattara@hotmail.co.uk

Monday June 15th

1-4pm
"Let's go fly a kite" - join Sheffield Conversation Club for a fun afternoon flying kites
Mount Pleasant Park, S7 1BA
Contact: Dianne Patterson conversation@diannep.f9.co.uk

5.30pm
"Congo - DRC, The Silent Genocide" - screening of a documentary, "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo", followed by discussion about the consequences of this ongoing war.
Library Theatre, Surrey Street, S1 1XZ.
Admission free. Adults (18+) only
Contact: James Kazadi, "Africatime": jameskazadi@yahoo.fr

June is full of events, so get your diaries out!!

Secret Cinema teams up with Sheffield Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers presents:
Screening of Dirty Pretty Things,
Sunday 31st May, 6:00pm - 9:00pm [Doors open 5.45pm, film starts 6.15pm]
The Lantern Theatre, Kenwood Park Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield.
Suggested donation 3-5 pounds

-Okwe, a Nigerian doctor, and Senay, a Turkish chambermaid, work at the
same West London hotel. Beneath the glitz of the hotel, exploitation and
corruption is rife. This stunning thriller and understated romance is an
addictively powerful and entrancing film.
This film showing is in support of Sheffield Committee to Defend Asylum
Seekers (CDAS). CDAS campaigns against the demonisation of asylum
seekers and Government policies of detention and deportation   

Django a la Creole - Evan Christopher at the Library Theatre
Wednesday 3rd June 2009, Doors 7.30pm
Tickets £12/£10(conc)
Available from Jack's Records, the Bohemian, and: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/45414

For more info/interviews:07835 966810
Django à la Créole is the fusion of Gypsy swing with hot syncopations from the streets of New Orleans, the Caribbean and Brazil,. Elegant and impassioned, New Orleans-based clarinetist Evan Christopher's style is steeped in the tradition exemplified by early jazz masters such as Sidney Bechet, Jimmie Noone, and Barney Bigard. Together with guitarists David Blenkhorn, Dave Kelbie, and bassist Sebastien Girardot, the quartet celebrates the music of the legendary Django Reinhardt and enlivens swing-era classics with fresh interpretations and virtuosic improvisations.

Help us to reach 100!

95 local organisations have now signed up to help Sheffield be a City of
Sanctuary, by welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary in their
activities. Can you help us reach 100 organisations? If you are a member
of a local group or organisation that hasn't yet signed our resolution
of support, could you them to do so? For wording of the pledge of
support, or to download a pledge form see www.cityofsanctuary.com/pledge

Every Migrant Matters conference,
Thursday 18 June, 10am-4pm, including lunch and refreshments, Sheffield Hallam University.
Free to attend apart from business and statutory organisations.

The conference is organised in conjunction with the South Yorkshire
Refugee Community Organisation Forum (SYRCO Forum). It has a special
focus on the impact of a common EU asylum policy, but will be looking at
other areas concerning refugees and new migrants as well.
The conference will include a chance to feedback to the panel of
speakers on key issues, as well as workshops.
To book a place, please contact Kat Cousins at the Northern Refugee Centre
Tel: 0114 2412780, Web:  www.nrcentre.org.uk

Refugee Week Launch, stallholders needed!

Refugee week is being launched on Saturday 13th June, 10-6pm with a concert on Devonshire Green.
If anyone would like to have a stall, campaigning, food, crafts or anything else with an international theme, please contact Sarah Eldridge at sarah.eldridge@nrc.org.uk
Stall space is free but you will need to bring your own table and chairs!

Ubaka, Stephanie, Desmond and Raphael have been released from Yarl's wood and are back in Sheffield

Ubaka Nwose and 3 of his children [ Immigration missed Ubaka's wife and another child when they raided their house] were arrested and taken to Yarlswood detention centre on 20th April, and were due to be forcibly deported to Nigeria,on 29th April. The children resisted and refused to go with the immigration officers, and their removal was postponed They are extremely traumatised, but back in Sheffield, where it is vital that we continue to fight for their right to stay in this country without the threat of further detention or deportation.
The family would like to express their gratitude to everyone who helped rescue them.
For more information on how to help, go to:
Online petition: Save Ubaka K. Nwose and his family
http://www.gopetition.com/online/27357/sign.html
Stephanie 12, Desmond 11 and Raphael 6, refuse to leave Yarl's Wood
http://tinyurl.com/dhkf8m
or contact :Ubaka K. Nwose / Tel: 07881713615 / ken_nwose@yahoo.com

Young asylum seekers photography exhibition opens in Yorkshire
A new exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Shared Horizon, displays photographs taken by 14- to 18-year-old unaccompanied asylum seekers living in Wakefield, Barnsley and Kirklees.

The Shared Horizon exhibition opens in the sculpture park's Centre Upper Space on 25 April through to 3 July 2009. The display will then go on tour around Yorkshire venues and further afield
See some of the photographs at The Guardian: Gallery: Shared Horizon exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

ASSIST Benefit events at the Library Theatre

The Kathryn Tickell band at the Library Theatre in aid of ASSIST
Sunday 17th May 2009, Start time 8.00 pm (doors open 7.30 pm)
Library Theatre,Tudor Square, Sheffield, S1 1XZ
Tickets £12/£10(conc)

Kathryn's work is deeply connected to the landscape and people of Northumbria, in particular the North Tyne Valley where many of her relatives still play traditional music. Kathryn took up the Northumbrian smallpipes at the age of nine and by the age of thirteen had won all the traditional open smallpipes competitions.
Kathryn has toured extensively throughout the UK and abroad, both as a solo artist and with The Kathryn Tickell Band.She has composed music for television and radio and recorded with the Penguin Café Orchestra, The Chieftains, Beth Nielsen‐Chapman,Jimmy Nail, Linda Thompson,Sting and many others.
This event is the result of a collaboration between Four Rivers Productions and The Bohemian Cafe (www.thebohemiancafe.co.uk) in support of asylum seekers charity Assist-Sheffield. Please visit the website www.assistsheffield.org.uk
Advance sales online: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/45412
More info and tickets: 07835 966810 / www.kathryntickell.com

Genuine Concern for Africa? Causes of displacement and the restrictive nature of asylum in the UK
Thursday 7th May 2009 6-9pm, Arts Tower Lecture Theatre 3, University of Sheffield.
Price: £1 (tickets can be bought on the door or in advance from the Student's Union Box office)

PLEASE SUPPORT THE MDODI FAMILY
Alpha Mbodi and his family are from eastern Congo. He fled the Democratic Republic of Congo with his two sons in 2005, fearing the war there would claim the lives of his family. Unfortunately the family were unable to escape together and he was forced to leave his wife and young daughter behind. Alpha and his sons were accommodated in Sheffield by NASS shortly after their arrival in the UK.
The boys, who are now 15 and 13 years old, are settled at school where they progressing very well with their education. Alpha, who is a qualified language teacher himself and an active member of the Sheffield Community Church, is keen for them to complete their education in Sheffield to secure their future. Last year, Alpha was discovered working illegally in a cleaning job that he had taken to enable him support his family. As a result, he spent 5 months in Doncaster Prison during which time family friends looked after the two boys. Now reunited with his sons, he has learnt his application to stay in the UK has been turned down. He and his two boys are facing the prospect of deportation back to eastern Congo, which continues to be ravaged by fighting, civil unrest and insecurity.
Home Office reference number: M1265007
Please sign the on-line petition at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/familymbodi/

Telephone Sheena on 077 9260 5138 or email memesheena@blueyonder.co.uk for more information or if you want to offer help with the campaign.

NRC WOMEN FRIENDLY SESSIONS MOVE

The NRC Advice Service's Women friendly sessions have moved time and location.
They will now be every Wednesday from 9.30 to 12 at the same location as our main drop-ins at Sheffield Advice Link at Castle Market.
The sessions are staffed by women, are now wheelchair and buggy accessible and children are welcome - we have some toys, now!

GOOD NEWS!

THE THULAMBO FAMILY ARE COMING HOME TO SHEFFIELD!

Priviledge, Valerie & Lorraine have been granted temporary release from detention. They are obviously extremely relieved after their near 4 month ordeal and very grateful for the support they have received from everyone.
The judge has allowed them to apply for judicial review. It is a big win for them and all of us who have stood by them in these difficult times but it is just a small part in terms of the legal process. They will still need our support as ever. We now need to wait for the details of the next stage in the process before establishing what can best be done to support the case.
At a meeting in which Councillors of all parties agree to write again to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith urging her to stop the deportation Council Leader Paul Scriven said: "I personally know Priviledge [..] and hers is a story of horror. [..] They are a hard-working family who stood up against the evils in Zimbabwe and they deserve our protection. It will be a national disgrace if the Home Secretary exports them to possible death."

ASYLUM DIALOGUES
June 18 @ 7:00 pm, Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JD
Tickets: £6. For bookings email actorsnorth@iceandfire.co.uk.  Tickets also available on the door.

Iceandfire theatre in conjunction with the national City of Sanctuary movement, present a performance of their documentary play Asylum Dialogues. Drawn from real life conversations with threecouples - one a British citizen and the other a person seeking sanctuary here, Asylum Dialogues highlights some of the many acts of solidarity shown by British people towards refugees living alongside them. It is performed by Actors for Human Rights, iceandfire's network of professional actors dedicated to drawing public attention to contemporary human rights concerns.
For more about iceandfire, go yo: www.iceandfire.co.uk