From an art exhibition to a football tournament – staff, students and partner organisations within the University of Hull’s local community will be coming together on campus for a series of events as part of Refugee Week.
The events will celebrate our refugee community here in Hull.
Refugee Week (20 – 26 June) is an annual event that is a celebration of community, mutual care, and the human ability to start again.
The theme of Hull Refugee week is ‘healing’. Healing means recovering from a painful experience or situation, so that we can continue to live. No-one understands this better than those who have lost their homes and had to build new lives from scratch in places like Hull and the wider region.
We have much to learn from refugees about holding onto hope when everything around you is crumbling away and life itself seems impossible – as well as about how art, creativity and community can help us to heal. Those going through the asylum system also know that healing is an ongoing process, made harder by poverty, housing difficulties and the threat of being detained or deported. Asking for change, so that refugees can truly feel safe, is an act of care.
Please join us for these events to celebrate our refugee community:
Forced to Flee: Stories from Hull Refugees
Monday 20 June - Sunday 17 July
Forced to Flee: Stories from Hull Refugees is a new exhibition at the University’s art gallery in the Brynmor Jones Library and forms part of the Hull Refugee week.
The exhibition will explore healing through art, creativity and conversations. It will offer time to reflect but also celebrate the strength of community, mutual care, and the human ability to start again.
It will feature the work of Hull artists who had to flee their homes, livelihood and country in search of safety, including the Dirar family and others from the Hull refugee community. Artists who found solace in, and were able to convey their stories through their creativity, stories they are ready to share with us, stories from our Hull refugee community.
Football Unites Refugee Week tournament
Monday 20 June, 5-10pm
The University and Football Unites present the Refugee Week Tournament 2022, taking place at the Hull Sport Park.
Football Unites, the University’s community football programme, seeks to increase opportunities for members of diverse ethnic communities to participate in football. The University has welcomed almost 250 participants from 49 nations since its weekly Football Unites sessions began in July 2021.
To celebrate Refugee Week 2022, you are invited to join us for our latest Football Unites tournament, an evening of fun and football for all. Everyone is welcome, whether you are a regular at our Football Unites sessions or you will be joining us for the first time. Families are welcome too, and the evening will start with activities and games for children.
- 5-6pm: Children’s activities (for ages 5 to 16)
- 6-10pm: 4th Football Unites tournament (for adults, aged 16 or older)
Participation is free and refreshments will be provided. For further information, please contact Dan.Smith@hull.ac.uk or phone 01482 466491.
We The Cimarrons: Screening and discussion panel with the director
Wilberforce Building, Lecture Theatre 15, the University of Hull
Tuesday 21 June 2022, 6.30-8pm
In the River Yurumangui in Pacific Colombia, in 1810 enslaved people rebelled and declared themselves free, their leader becoming King Pascual I.
Today the descendants of these rebels have legal title over this land and live in a semi-autonomous community. But two centuries later, Yurumanguí’s people have to still live as 'cimarrons'.
They suffer from armed attack from breakaway rebel groups, the encroachment of drug wars, and the devastation of their ancestral lands from illegal crops, illicit mining and over-logging.
While many of the nearby rivers are utterly destroyed, their people forced to leave for the cities, the Yurumanguí community is courageously fighting back, using only their heroic cimarrón history and African-based culture. They are determined that their own ways and cultures contribute to the survival of the world.
The community rarely lets outsiders visit. We the Cimarrons allows viewers to go inside this astonishing community.
Join us in Lecture Theatre 15 of the Wilberforce building to experience this piece of short cinema that explores the culture of the Cimarrons, followed by a discussion panel including the film’s director Emma Christopher, and some of our academics from the Wilberforce Institute, as well as key participants in the production of We The Cimarrons.
If you are interested to attend, please register here.
Over the Sea to Safety? Refugees’ Sea Crossings
Thursday 23 June, 3-5pm
Over many millennia of human history, people have taken to the seas fleeing persecution. Such journeys have frequently been fraught with danger.
For example, between 1975 and 1980, it is estimated that between 200,000 and 400,000 ‘boat people’ perished while escaping violence in Vietnam in small, often unseaworthy boats. Currently, the UNHCR argues that ‘Europe is living through a maritime refugee crisis of historic proportions’: each year thousands of refugees attempt to reach Europe across the Mediterranean in flimsy vessels, with a high cost in lives; the English Channel has become the site of unfolding tragedy as refugees in inflatable boats seek to traverse the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
In this seminar, which is taking place at the Wilberforce Institute and is organised by the University’s Wilberforce Institute and Blaydes Maritime Centre, our speakers will explore the past and present of refugees’ maritime experiences, considering testimony from the refugees themselves as well examining the factors which have impelled people to risk their lives at sea in search of a safe home.
Speakers include: Teghan Louis-Puttick (Sea Rescue Volunteer); Abdolhamid (Hull Refugee); Jeff Morgan (Honorary Research Fellow, Wilberforce Institute), Dr Nicholas Evans (History, University of Hull); Professor Vicki Squire (Politics, University of Warwick).
If you are interested to attend, please register here.
Sanctuary in Nature
University of Hull Botanic Gardens, 57 Thwaite Street, Cottingham, HU16 4QX
Friday 24 June, 11.30am-1.30pm
Green spaces play an important role in supporting our physical and mental health and wellbeing. This Refugee Week, as we explore the theme of healing, you are invited to find sanctuary in the beautiful surroundings of the University’s Botanic Gardens at 57 Thwaite Street, Cottingham.
In addition to glasshouses containing plants from around the world, the gardens include a hectare of lawns, trees and themed borders to explore and enjoy.
Visitors will be able to join a guided tour focusing on the health and wellbeing properties of the garden’s plants and trees.
Entrance is free and visitors are welcome to bring a picnic to enjoy within the gardens.
Note: Visitors are encouraged to use sustainable modes of transport to travel to the gardens. There will be limited parking available for disabled visitors only within the grounds of the gardens.
Forced to Flee: Stories from Hull Refugees: Artist Talks
Tuesday 5 July, 6pm-7.30pm
Please come and join us in TR3 of the Brynmor Jones Library to listen and talk to the artists behind the Forced to Flee: Stories from Hull Refugees exhibition, featuring the story of the Dirar family, whose art brings into light the struggle of refugees fleeing overseas.
If you are interested in attending, please register here.
Forced to Flee: Stories from Hull Refugees: Artist Talks
Tuesday 12 July, 6pm-7.30pm
Please come and join us to listen and talk to the artists behind the Forced to Flee: Stories from Hull Refugees exhibition, featuring the stories of Isabel Arce Zelada, R. Escobar, Eman El Garrai, and others, whose art brings into light the struggle of refugees fleeing overseas.
If you are interested in attending, please register here.