HEM’s Chat
Please contact me on Vie@bradfordrefugeeforum.org.uk
HEM Connects Bradford Newsletter
Friday 11th March
Friday @6: youth club ran by Holme Christian Centre, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
7-8.45pm: Interfaith Gathering @ Khidmat Centre
7pm Kascarade Live @Clayton Heitghs Pub. Contact Mat Milnes for more information.
Saturday 12th March
Celebration of International women day @ City Hall.
Sunday 13th March
11.15am St Mary’s The Vine, BD4. Special worship celebrating 150 years of existence!
Monday 14th March
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
Tuesday 15th March
5.30pm-8.30pm Cohesion, Counter-terrorism and Communities @ Norcroft Centre
Wednesday 16th March
1-2.30pm HEM Meet&Greet @ Holme wood Activity Centre
Thursday 17th March
10-11am: Councillors Surgeries @Holmewood Library, BD4.
International Film Festival Bradford until 27th March.
3.30pm Bradford Refugee Forum Full meeting @Frontline Initiative
Friday 18th March
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Saturday 19th March
11am-4pm: Bradford Media museum Puppet movie & face painting £1 per person
Sunday 20th March
12-5pm: .Holi Festival Multi-cultural Event celebrating 25 years of Oriental Arts: world music, dance, workshop, world food. £4 per adult, £2 per child. @ Ukrainian Club, BD7.
Monday 21st March
10.30am-3.30pm: OXFAM BME Conference – guests are Southall Black Sisters @ Leeds St George centre.
Wednesday 23rd March
6-9pm: City of Sanctuary Special Event – Launch of Bradford City of Sanctuary status & focus on positive contrinutions of asylum seekers & refugees to Bradford. @ St Peter’s house
Thursday 24th March
11am-3pm: Ice AND Fire event in partnership with BRF, Bradford Women District… @Valuing Diversity’ – Asylum Dialogues. Book your place by emailing projects@iceandfire.co.uk
Street Angels Fundraising Dinner @ Chino Thai
Friday 25th March
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Saturday 26th March
9AM-5PM: Bradford Women Market, Darley street, BD1. From SOW – Supporting Opprtunities for Women (social enterprising).
7.30pm: Innchurches Thanksgiving Service @St John’s great horton. Free but you need to bring a pudding to share!
9pm TGU – Trance Global Underground – world music Club @ Balanga – FREE!
Monday 28th March
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
Friday 1st April
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
8pm-2am: Love Music Hate Racism @West Indian Centre. £10 per person.
Saturday 2nd April
10-11am: Councillors Surgeries @St John’s church, BD4.
12-2pm: CONGO AWARENESS CAMPAIGNING Group meeting (open to public) – venue TBC. Contact me if you need further info.
Sunday 3rd April
12.45pm-2.45pm: KOKESHI – Stand up, Speak out, Make a difference @ Bradford Gallery, Yorkshire Craft Centre, BD7 1AY.
Wednesday 6th April
1-2.30pm HEM Meet&Greet @ Holme wood Activity Centre
Thursday 7th April
Asylum Dialogues by Ice &Fire @7pm @Bradford Playhouse
Friday 8th April
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Monday 11th April
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
7-8.45pm: Interfaith Gathering @Khidmat Centre
Wednesday 13th April
6-8pm: City of Sanctuary monthly meeting @Touchstone, BD7.
Friday 15th April
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Saturday 16th April
Bradford Media Museum Special Effects Spectacular 11am-4pm.
Wednesday 20th April
Lego Animation Workshop @Bradford Media Museum 10.30am-12.30pm or 1.30-3.30pm.
Thursday 21st April
10-11am: Councillors Surgeries @Bierley Community centre, BD4.
Tuesday 26th April
1pm and 3.30pm Fireman Sam Live @St George Hall.
Friday 29th April
6-11.30pm Kascarade (Faze) Live @ The Old Tramshed, Saltaire.
Wednesday 4th May
1-2.30pm HEM Meet&Greet @Holme wood Activity Centre
Thursday 5th May
3.30PM: Bradford Refugee Forum AGM (Open to Public) @BAFRA, 40a picadilly street, BD1.
Friday 6th May
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
7.30pm: HEM & Janet presents Women Pamper night @ Social Club (Tong)
Monday 9th May
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
Wednesday 11th May
6pm: Holme wood Community Council @HCC Hall. Open to public.
7-8.45pm Interfaith gathering @Khidmat Centre
Friday 12th May
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Saturday 13th May
1-4PM: Be a TV Presenter @Bradford Media Museum
Adult Learner week till 2oth may.
Wednesday 18th May
HEM Day trip (Free) to the Dales. Book your place by emailing hem@holmewoodactivitycentre.co.uk
Friday 20th May
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Monday 23rd May
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
Wednesday 25th May
1-2.30pm HEM Meet&Greet @Holme wood Activity Centre
Thursday 26th May
Launch of Holme View (Holme wood) Allotment
Friday 27th May
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
7pm: African Achievers International Awards @Hilton Hotel. Book and pay your tickets through the Nile- Africa House.
Tuesday 31st May
Community Seaside Trip to Southport £8 per adult; £6 per child. Book by calling Brian on 683740 from Holme wood Activity Centre.
Saturday 4th June
HEM Intercultural Cafe – Gypsies &Travellers 3.30pm onwards @Madison Cafe.
Friday 10th June
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Saturday 11th June
7-8.45pm Interfaith gathering @Khidmat Centre
Monday 13th June
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
Friday 17th June
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Monday 20th June
LAUNCH OF REFUGEE WEEK!
Friday 24th June
Friday @6: youth club ran by HCC, Holmewood for 6-10years old.
Congo Awareness Campaigning group in partnership with Refugee Week presents fundraising community festival/ celebration: Dramas, talks, poems, music, fashion, music, dance! Food.
Saturday 25th June
Refugee Week Football Tournament
DCF – Disabled Christian Fellowship Fun day @HCC 11am-3pm.
Monday 27th June
4-6pm: Family Space – Enjoy relaxing time where parents can chat, kids play and get a free cooked dinner! Open to any residents of Holme wood. @ Hall of HCC (ex-Hopes Centre)
CRC Black History Month Event
In the frame of 50th Anniversary of the Independence of 17 African states in 2010:
The Centre Resolution Conflicts (CRC) of Bradford,
In partnership with Foster Community College (FCC)’s Health Creation Bradford (HCB), Sharing Voices Bradford (SVB), Bradford University’s Programme for a Peaceful City (PPC), Parity Associates Ltd and Bradford Council,
Cordially invites you to attend
A Conference on “Half a Century Walk in the Desert (HCWD), Black History Month and the DR Congo Week 2010”: Designing the Future of Africa’
Date : Saturday 23rd October 2010
Venue: Room GTA JSB, Richmond Building, Richmond Road, Bradford, BD7 1DP
Time: Arrive 11.00am (start 12pm) – 3.30pm
The day will include: speeches & Workshops.
All are welcome but places are limited and the deadline for booking is Thursday 21st October 2010. To avoid disappointment, please book your place NOW at this address:
c/o Benoit (Ben) Mussanzi wa Mussangu, CRC All Saints Church, Bradford BD5 0NG, Tel: 07500410772, or email: crc_bradford@yahoo.com; info@cr-conflict.org,
For parking reason, please use public transport if you can.
BRADFORD Active Citizens Social Action Day
Come & join us to have your say on what matters to you locally!
Bradford University Small Hall on 16/10/10 @ 10am to 4pm
JAMAICAN INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS
THE NEWBY SQUARE (aka The Red Ginn)
PRESENT THE ANNUAL JAMAICAN INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS & FAMILY FUN DAY
Saturday 7th August 2010
At The Newby Square Community Pub 32 Bowling Old Lane, BD5 7TD
12pm until 8pm
Featuring
- DJ MASSACRE
- Children’s Bouncy Castle
- Face Painting
- Caribbean Food - Jerk Chicken, Roast Fish, Curry Goat & Rice
AFTER-PARTY 10pm – 6am
- DJs on the night
- LORD GILLES – London & Special Guest DJs from Manchester & Bradford – All playing on Scorcher Sound
ADMISSION FREE
Tel: 07944 343213 for details
Petition to grant Sanctuary for Estelle and Freddy
Friends of Estelle & Freddy are petitioning the Home Secretary Theresa May, to reconsider Estelle’s case and grant Estelle, Humanitarian protection.
Estelle and Freddy Petition
Please print petition and return to:
Friends of Estelle & Freddy
C/o Northern Refugee Centre
Scotia works
1 Leadmill Road
Sheffield, S1 4SE
My name is Estelle and I am an Asylum Seeker whose claim has been rejected. It’s a complicated story, but I have lost all my appeals because – I can’t prove I am a Lesbian.
My parents died when I was in my teens and my uncle took in me and my brothers.
I was seeing someone who I didn’t know was married to a man in the police. We were found by her husband one day, and I was arrested. In the prison cell, ‘to prove I was a woman’ I was raped, and tortured. My uncle paid a bribe to get me released, and because we heard the police man knew where I lived, he took to my grandmother’s village to keep me safe. I became pregnant because of the rape.
One day my uncle came to the village and said the police man had found where I was and had made death threats. He paid an agent to get me out of Cameroon to somewhere safe where I could claim Asylum. He got me a passport in a false name and we travelled by plane and ferry and bus. I was 7 months pregnant when we left, and very travel sick and exhausted all the time we were travelling. I did not know where we were or what countries we were in. I relied totally on the agent to get me somewhere safe and to tell me what to do. I could only speak French and a little English when I left Cameroon.
When we got to the UK, I was so sick and exhausted the agent took me to a hotel so I could sleep and rest. Next day he gave me a paper with an address, took me to the streets and told me to find my way to the address and then he left me. He said I should show the paper to people to tell me where to go. The address was the screening centre for Asylum seekers in Croydon.
I was interviewed for a long time, and then I was sent to Barnsley to the Belmont Centre. It has been very hard as I knew no-one and I knew very little English.
I was given somewhere to live after a short time, and I had my baby, Freddy, after 2 months. I did not know what was happening when my waters broke – my neighbour told me I was going to have my baby – she has been very good to me and helped me, and a lady from Barnsley that I met has been very kind also, getting me baby clothes and things for Freddy.
For the last 14 months since Freddy was born I have had to learn to be a mother, look after me and Freddy, deal with my claim for Asylum, and I have learned English and computers. People in Barnsley have been so kind. Because of the rape, I have had help from a Sexual Violence Counsellor, and she believes me and has given me a letter of support. She says:
“The Judge in making the finding not to allow Estelle to remain has said they do not believe her about her sexual orientation. Whilst at the same time agreeing she was raped and also agreeing that it would be extremely difficult for a lesbian to be accepted in her country of origin Cameroon. I have found Estelle to be consistent and honest in all her communications as well as consistent in relaying information about her life both here in the UK and in her country of origin Cameroon. It is difficult to understand how “the truth” involving a decision about something as unique as an individual’s sexuality can be taken. I understand recent research has found 98% of cases where sexuality as a factor are refused asylum.
Having worked with a number of victims of rape and sexual violence I have no doubt that Estelle’s account is true and I base this on her presentation and her recounting of her day to day experience coping with the impact of this serious trauma.”
My final appeal has been turned down as the judge does not believe I am a Lesbian. I chose to have Freddy even though I was scared – he is a good, beautiful child and makes me happy, even though the event that brought him to me was so horrible. I do not know how I can prove that I will love women and not men, especially as I have Freddy. I wish I could have spoken English myself when I was first interviewed – it was so hard to speak through an interpreter. Perhaps that is why they don’t believe me.
I have turned down the offer of a voluntary return to Cameroon. I cannot go back there – I will not be safe. I have been told that Freddy and I will be forcibly removed. I am sick with worry all the time that someone will come for us at any time, or when I go to sign at the office in Sheffield they will keep me there.
Recent UK Government statement
Asylum
We will stop the deportation of asylum seekers who have had to leave particular countries because their sexual orientation or gender identification puts them at proven risk of imprisonment, torture or execution.
The UK is recognised as a world leader on LGB and T rights. While we will use our international status to influence other countries, encourage them to repeal anti-homosexuality laws and show further understanding of LGB and T issues, we are also aware that this will not happen overnight
(Working for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Equality document, Government Equalities Office published 16 June 2010. See www.equalities.gov.uk)
Notes on Cameroon
Same-sex sexual acts are banned by section 347 of the penal code with a penalty of 5 years imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 francs. More severe sentencing is likely when one of the offenders is under 21 years of age.]
In May 2005, 11 men were arrested at a nightclub on suspicion of sodomy, and the government threatened to conduct medical examinations to “prove” their homosexual activity. As of February 2006, nearly all were still being detained, with trials scheduled in March 2006.]
Cameroon is a conservative society. Homosexuality is frowned upon. In 2006, a number of tabloids published the names of at least 50 very prominent people they claimed were homosexual. They condemned them for deviant behaviour. The stories boosted newspaper circulation, but were criticized by the state communication council for invading people’s privacy. The campaign provoked a national debate about gay rights and privacy. (Wikipedia June 2010)
Friends of Estelle & Freddy are petitioning the Home Secretary Theresa May, to reconsider Estelle’s case and grant Estelle, Humanitarian protection.
Follow The Fleece
AKCT – All Keighley Communities Together Presents
Follow The Fleece
On
Monday 19th July 2010
At
The Keighley Arts Factory
from
7.30pm
Follow the fleece tells the story of the wool trade in West Yorkshire from the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day. It’s a story of high finance, industrial espionage, revolution, transformation, triumph and disaster.
Using contemporary accounts, the story is told through the eyes of those who were there from shepherds and soldiers to mill-owners and mill-workers. Part of this history is told through the words of contemporary writers from the scribe of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle to the reforming MP James Smith. You’ll find them at the back, centre stage, at key moments in the saga.
Background information
For many years, I had planned to write something about the wool trade, inspired by childhood memories of playing in the wool warehouse where my father worked. I had no idea what that something might be – a factual reminiscence, some verse, a work of fiction perhaps? Then on Old Year’s Night, 2006, I was seeing in the New Year, as I normally do, at a house party in the home of my friends David and Carolyn Williams. David and I got into a conversation about the possibility of writing a “choral drama” or musical review. I mentioned the wool trade and David volunteered to write the music if I wrote the words.
It might have remained at that, but circumstances turned the cup-fuelled notion into a reality. The discovery of Gamel, Bradford’s earliest known resident, drove the story.
Research for the play took me to fascinating places in Yorkshire and British history. Along the way, I found myself visiting contemporary documents from The Domesdaie Boke to the records of The British Wool Marketing Board, from transcriptions of Parliament to medieval comedies performed outside Wakefield parish Church, from 19th century speeches to price lists from the Medici family.
So what might have been a poem or short story inspired by my Dad became a full length drama, with music and a cast of twenty-some people – Follow The Fleece.
Nigel Schofield, Writer .
Entry to this event is free and everyone is welcome, light refreshments will be available. There will also be information on the Bacca Pipes Folk Club that operate out of the Ukrainian Club in Keighley. There will be an opportunity for people to make any donations if they wish to do so in support of a charity called, The Gambian Schools Trust.
For more information and if you would like to register your place, please contact Keighley and Ilkley Voluntary and Community Action (KIVCA) on 01535 665258 or email ash@keighleyvs.org . Please feel free to circulate widely amongst your contacts.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Greet & Meet HEM Meeting
Please see our leaflet for our next Greet & Meet HEM Meeting Tuesday 08/06/10 from 1.15pm to 2.45pm held @ Holmewood Activity Centre (Broadstone Way – HolmeWood (bus 607)).
Joining us will be:-
- Education Bradford
- Mathieson immigration law
- Seniors Show the Way
Please advise anyone you can think of who will benefit from our group sessions as well as print to put on as posters.
MelaMatik Fringe Festival in BRADFORD
Dont miss this – good music in Bradford Yeah!!
Check the website for details www.melamatik.co.uk/home
