Amersham, June 22nd 2024

Refugee Week was commemorated in Amersham again, as Amersham Museum, Amersham Rotate and Chiltern Welcomes organised events which brought the community together for the second year running.  Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts & culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Founded in 1998 in the UK, it is held every year around World Refugee Day which is on the 20 June.

On Saturday 22nd June, in St Michael’s Square there was Indian classical dancing, singing from some talented locals and a wonderful array of foods from the Caribbean, Syria and Ukraine. Additionally, the community created home baked treats which were sold in support of the charity, Chiltern Welcomes. Volunteer henna artists delighted visitors by applying floral patterns on hands. Storyboards this year shared the refugee story of three Ukrainian women and one African women, alongside historical accounts.

Children painted bird houses, provided by Bucks County Council, to reflect this year’s RefugeeWeek theme ‘Our Home’ as well as colouring in pictures reflecting that theme. Our young visitors also made some mini kites. Josiane Dyson, Refugee Welfare Manager at Bucks County Council told us “It was a lovely event and it was nice to see the community getting together”

Residents were invited to bring donations for refugees, currently supported by the charity, Care4Calais. Representative, Katie Nokes said “I am so grateful to be a part of Amersham's refugee event. We really appreciate being included and we are very happy to receive lots of donations from the local community.”

We were delighted to be joined by electoral candidate Sarah Green and Mayor Dominic Pinkney. They both spent time talking to our stall holders and visitors. Rabbi Neil Janes from South Bucks Jewish Community also expressed his appreciation, saying that the event showcased “a hopeful message about the richness of our diverse society.”

Amersham Museum Director, Briony Hudson, who also hosted a conversation class for a Ukrainian group at the museum the night before, reflected “we had great responses to our activities and conversations about the length of time this region has supported diverse communities.” Furthermore, she called upon attendees to join in the museum’s next exhibition titled Precious Objects - “If you had to flee, what would you grab?”

Local resident and instigator of the event, Sejal Sachdev, who has a refugee background stated, “my hope would be it becomes an annual event in Amersham and other communities and during the year we continue education and support of refugees.”

The team would like to thank Amersham Action Group, Amersham Tesco and Amersham Rotary for their financial support and help for our refugee residents to fund their stalls. Also thank you to Harsha Basu, talented local artist who lead the children’s activities and photographer Abuzar Atiffi (Noori Foto) from Afghanistan, for capturing images on the day. We want to thank everyone who helped make this event a such a huge success.