Conference a Huge Success

By Kenneth Mawomo and Phadden Munyoro

On Tuesday, 28 April 2009, all roads led to the University of Leicester’s Henry Wellcome building for an innovative Conference to create awareness about the life experiences of local refugees and asylum seekers in Leicester.

The conference was jointly organised by Hatnews ,the Clinical Psychology Department at the University of Leicester together with a number of Leicester based community organisations including Leicester City of Sanctuary, Soft Touch and Leicester Libraries.

Among the list of guest speakers was The Right Worshipful Lord Mayor of Leicester,  Councillor Manjula Sood who gave an inspirational speech reflecting on her life experiences. She came to Leicester in 1970 to join her husband. She revealed the agonizing challenges she went through in trying to settle here. Back then, she even contemplated returning to her native home but her father encouraged her to persevere. In 1972 she gained education in PGCE at Leicester University. Since 1973, she taught at local primary schools like Marriot Junior, East Park and Spinney Hills Primary being one of the first Asian female primary school teachers. Following the sudden death of her husband Paul Sood in 1996, she went into politics. In every role, she has always taught people the value and respect and understanding towards their fellow human beings. The Lord Mayor reiterated the fact that Leicester is a special home away from home, a place where dreams, hopes and aspirations can be realized.

Other guest speakers included Councillor Abdul Razak Osman(Office of the Deputy Leader), Geoff Saul(Curriculum Area Manager – ESOL Leicester College), Steve Beverley(Leicester Libraries), Amy Edwards(Charnwood Arts), Helen Everett (City of Sanctuary), Susan Hind (Open Hands Trust) and Alison Dunne (The Book Doctor).

Depressing revelations of a failed asylum seeker’s harrowing experiences in UK, recorded in diary form were read out by Alison, Phil and Millie. The monologue highlighted problems associated with lack of access to decent accommodation, threats of eviction by the authorities, lack of proper sanitation, access to GPs and solicitors and the resultant psychological torture.

One of the delegates interviewed by Bridgett Blair for BBC Radio Leicester, Senior Clinical Tutor (University of Leicester) Dr.Steve Melluish said : ‘Leicester’s cultural heritage reflects the fact that the city has historically been a settling place for many migrants and is home to a diversity of people from different backgrounds.’

Well over 120 delegates including refugees and asylum seekers, clinical psychology students, healthcare and social care professionals, university staff, 10 year 5 pupils from St. Thomas Moore Primary School accompanied by their teacher and Multi Agency Forum(MAF) members were in attendance.

In addition to the conference programme, there were a series of stalls and art displays from a wide range of organisations (Curve Theatre, Soft Touch Arts, ASSIST, Gondor Project Ethiopia, Amnesty International, Refugee Action, NIACE, Charnwood Arts, Catch 22, Leicester City NHS, Open Hands Trust and LASS) in the foyer of the Henry Wellcome building which was open to all from 10.30am – 3.30pm. Musical entertainment was provided by a drumming group called Afro-ex.

See You Tube Videos for the Conference:
Part 1
Part 2

Flickr photos

Feedback

Ratings of 1-7, rating 1 being very poor, rating 7 being very good. 25 forms returned. Approximately 120 people attended

Comments under ratings:

1. Presentations

- Really enjoyed the more personal, reflective talks. Film in the morning was very informative and very interesting. Loved the poems in the morning too.
-The Lord Mayor excellent as always – perhaps more personal stories from refugees would have been good too – sorry I had to leave at 2.00 p.m.
-Varied – not a good idea to have someone from libraries ?? a long document. Lord Mayor and speaker from COS good. Moderator good. Info good – library speaker (1) – others 5-7.
-DVD was good, other presentation was average. Speakers started getting boring.
-(Quite mixed overall – some fluent, some a bit dry). Lots of very interesting stuff but slightly limiting in that it was mainly a series of Talking Heads, which didn’t allow for much participation. However, aside from the school children, almost everyone stayed to the end which tells its own story.
-Good to have a lot of short, sharp presentations. Morning video was great. Maybe a little more interaction with the audience would help?
-Well organised.
-Some were very good, interesting and educational. Some were not so good.
-Very variable presentations. Statutory services – too much ????????? Contract with voluntary sector rather painful at times. Art therapy too theoretical – ASSIST service presentation much better. Poems and monologues brilliant.
-Diverse range of speakers – very informative. Would have liked to hear more from asylum seekers themselves/more interactive activities/personal experiences.
-Diverse spectrum of presentations but maybe too many? No personal refugees/asylum seeker speakers talked which seemed a shame.
-Very clear and health (good) – absolutely brilliant.
-Enjoyed the video presentations.
-Some better than others – but reading a speech does not make it interesting.

2. Displays

- Good.
-Very interesting and raised awareness.
-Very varied and from a really diverse collection of organisations.
-XXX ‘home is a special place’ and music.
-Fantastic.
-Information packed – links were made.
-Really well done.
-Good range of organisations/information.
-Good range of stalls and information.
-Very understood.
-Very informative.

3. Organisation of event

- Maybe could have done with a brief morning coffee break.
-Good.
-Too many speakers in so little time – there should have been a short 15 minute tea break in the morning session.
-Well co-ordinated and ‘shepherded’ – unlike many conferences which run over time from the outset!
-Impeccable.
-Good.
-Better communication, e.g., confirmation of conference nomination.
-Fine – firm grip on timing welcome.
-Well organised (no programme available on arrival however).
-Was not given a programme on arrival, everything else was super.
-Organisation and groups are already playing a big part should take they issues seriously and act ASAP.

· Good.

4. Venue

- Good.
-Excellent facilities to meet everyone’s needs.
-No place better than this.
-Very limitable.
-Claustrophobic and not enough fresh air in lecture theatre – gave me a headache. Seating badly designed so impossible to get out middle seats without disturbing a dozen people.
-Adequate, modern, clean, pleasant, location good.
-Enough space and easy to get there.
-Good.

5. Lunch

- Very good.
-Not much variety.
-Lovely food, but a bit of a squash to get to it.
-Was very good, organise more such events please and make the public know about them.
-I did not get what I wanted, e.g., decaffineated tea, etc.
-Very tasty.
-Yum!
-Very nice, shame about the queue!
-Anyone had a chance to eat (choose) whatever they wanted. Nice food (I like desert but couldn’t see).
-OK
-Excellent – especially because of the music and the children’s spontaneous dancing which accompanied it.

Any other comments:

- Length of presentations right length – moderator good in keeping to boundaries. I found the monologues and poems particularly powerful.
-I was expecting more than just having speakers talk about what they do. More stories from refugees/asylum seekers would have been better and more interesting.
-A very worthwhile day – reaching a lot of new people. Thank you for organising it.
-I’ve had such a lovely, heart-warming, rich and nurturing day. Thank you.
-Great energy and buzz. Hope the idea of a central resource of info takes off. I should’ve brought info on my organisation.
-Generally fantastic.
-It would have been nice to hear an asylum seeker or failed asylum seeker talk about their present situation.
-A wonderful event, great to hear about all the brilliant projects in Leicester – keep up the good work!
-Publicity is still little. This marks the beginning of something special.
-Lots of information to share with our team.
-Good mix of people and chance to network. The work being done is very important
– think more about presentation and don’t smother good work by unimaginative approach, e.g., Leicester College ESOL.
-Thanks for the invite. Keep up the good work and awareness/insight to pass on to others.
-Insightful and creative.
-?? come people can have hope that they are not alone, there are people out there who care about other people, even they can’t get anything out from it (can’t stand/sit back while other human beings are suffering).
-Congratulations to Elisha.