Refugee Week’s vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities, where they can continue to make a valuable contribution.
Refugee Week is an umbrella festival, and anyone can get involved by holding or joining an event or activity. Refugee Week events happen in all kinds of different spaces and range from arts festivals, exhibitions, film screenings and museum tours to football tournaments, public talks and activities in schools.

Refugee Week takes place this year from 19 to 25 June and the theme is Compassion. The programme in Hastings will be part of a National series of events, and they are looking forward to working with local artists and partners to celebrate what compassion looks like in action, here in Hastings.
There are opportunities available for artists, local businesses and local individuals to get involved and there will be more information available over the coming weeks, so please keep an eye on the RBP’s website and social media. You can also contact the Project Manager Rebecca Sinker directly to register your interest: Rebecca@therefugeebuddyproject.org.

Rossana Leal, Founder and CEO of The Refugee Buddy Project tells us, “We are really excited that we can continue the great success of the 2022 Refugee Week, which brought together people from across the community in creative celebration. Refugee Week 2023 is shaping up to be even bigger and better, so get involved and help us create a community welcome.”

For more information please contact Alex Kempton, Director of Operations and Campaigns: alex@therefugeebuddyproject.org or visit therefugeebuddyproject.org

PICTURE: Danielle Castle

Having taught cooking classes and worked in lots of local cafés and restaurants in Hastings over the years, they felt it would be great to create a welcoming space where people can enjoy lovely food, learn new skills and gain professional experiences through training schemes and employment. 

“There are a lot of really exciting food projects in Hastings but there’s a lack of venues to run them so we are creating a permanent home to celebrate local food and the people who make it.”

Home Ground Kitchen (HGK) will be the place to visit to enjoy delicious food. Their in-house cooks will be shaking up lunchtimes, serving delicious wholesome seasonal bowl foods like vibrant, hearty salads in summer and warm tagines, chilies and curries for colder days. They’ll also be serving home-blended Chai, craft sodas and fermented drinks made by local producers.

PICTURE: Danielle Castle

At every level they want HGK to give new opportunities to local food makers and growers. They’ll be hiring out the kitchen for cooks to make products, run their own supper clubs and world food classes. They’ll also be running a barista school for those not working or in education, plus free classes for children and budget cooking classes.

They already have funded summer classes for children living in areas of deprivation and a cooking skill-share with refugees. (see our feature Passion Wins Over Process on the new refugee run cafe at Open in St Leonards here)

They’ve got so much planned, and need just a bit more help bringing it to life. They’ve almost finished the kitchen and just need to purchase ovens and some kitchen equipment.

They are crowdfunding using Spacehive, a funding platform for ideas that bring local places to life. By pledging your support you’ll part of something brilliant for Hastings and rewards include a hand-printed Home Ground tea towel, tickets to the launch party with guest chef, cooking classes and supper club tickets.

Kate says: “Please share and support us if you can and we look forward to welcoming you soon!”

• You can see more about their plans and back them here: www.spacehive.com/home-ground-kitchen or here: Instagram: Homeground_kitchen

Rossana Leal, founder of the Hastings & Rother Refugee Buddy Project has had her innovative community leadership work recognised at the Women of the World Festival in London.

PICTURE: Dave Young

On Sunday 10th March, the day when the whole world was celebrating the achievements of women, one of Hastings’ finest was on the South Bank in London receiving the Woman of the Year Award at the  Festival.

Rossana Leal was given this prestigious award in recognition of her pioneering work and inspirational leadership in setting up the Hastings & Rother Refugee Buddy Project. This initiative encourages people from Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill to offer help of various kinds to refugee families entering our community through the Syrian Resettlement Project. 

Rosanna with Vanessa Redgrave
PICTURE: Andrew Grainger

The Women on the Move Awards is a unique annual ceremony, organised by Migrants Organise and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to celebrate the vital contributions made by refugee and migrant women to communities across the country.  Their work, often carried out every day without any supporting infrastructure, connects and empowers communities and inspires others to make social change, but is often unseen and the people behind it unsung.

During the awards ceremony a short film was shown of Rossana at work in Hastings. It emphasised the wealth of proactive and creative community activism going on in Hastings and, in particular, celebrated the intense community engagement that was having such a positive impact on the lives of newly arriving refugees. 

Beyond the ceremony itself, the awards scheme hopes to redress an imbalance by emphasising the positive outcomes of migration and shifting the narrative from one about ‘victims’ to one of shared humanity and community. 

Rossana enjoyed much support from her Hastings friends on the night. There were members of her buddy ‘team’, Hastings Women’s Voice, and a large contingent from Syrian refugee families in attendance.

Rosanna at the Award ceremony
PICTURE: Andrew Grainger

Hosted by the BBC’s Samira Ahmed, the award itself was presented by Vanessa Redgrave. Clearly moved by her achievements, Redgrave spoke very highly of Rossana’s fortitude and compassion before sharing a dance with her as the ceremony closed and the Choir of the World sang!

Laura Padoan, a spokesperson for UNHCR, said of Rossana, the other winners and nominees: “The most courageous people I know are refugee women. In spite of everything they’ve been through, they are reaching out to others in need and giving back to the communities that have welcomed them.”

Rossana’s Story
It is perhaps no surprise that Rosanna has herself experienced first hand the fear and trauma of being a refugee. Her family were forced to flee their home country of Chile because of the threat of state persecution following Pinochet’s violent coup that overthrew the socialist government led by Salvador Allende in 1973. 

She still remembers the names of the two people that met her family at the airport in London in 1977: Helen and Gordon. They were part of the Joint Working Group, a network of faith groups, trades unions and local authority services who came together to help Chilean refugees. Rosanna says that as a direct result of their warm welcome, unflinching commitment and the way they organised a secure place for her family to stay during those first few days after their arrival, she finally began to feel safe.

Subsequently welcomed into a small mining community in Fife, Scotland, Rossana talks fondly of her adopted home country and the welcome she was given by a community bound by its mining industry and trade unions. Whilst she accepts that Scotland is not where her family roots are, she has always maintained that she is as much Scottish as she is Chilean and that ultimately home is always the place where you feel safe.

After graduating with a masters in Health Education and Promotion, Rossana worked with a number of migrant organisations, resettlement programmes and in a range of different community project management roles. Her priority in moving to Hastings was to slow things down, to rest and to take a break from social activism, but she found that she could not stand by as “life got worse and worse every day for refugees in the UK”. She told me that her vast experience in aligning the work of locally grown community groups with that of local authorities was going to waste at a time of great need, and that she felt compelled to do something to combat the Home Office’s hostile environment policy.

The Buddy Project
The Hastings & Rother Refugee Buddy Project was set up in 2017. Currently supporting 20 families, the scheme is taking shape and growing every day. Volunteers support arriving Syrian families in any way they need to help them settle into Hastings and the surrounding area. Together, Buddies and refugees share meals, visit local sites and festivals, run sewing groups, have driving lessons and organise children’s activities. The founding mission of the scheme was to establish a real culture of welcome and hospitality for new fellow-citizens from Syria in Hastings. By doing this, the Buddy Project is making a local stand in opposition to austerity and government policy towards migrants and refugees.

The Buddy Project works closely with the Hastings Borough Council case officer team for the Syrian Resettlement Programme, who are responsible for all education, health, housing, financial and other official assistance to the families.  It also works in liaison with Hastings Community of Sanctuary.

This award is a great accolade for Rossana, the buddy volunteers and for the town of Hastings itself. Rossana has shown us how one person’s vision and commitment to improving the lives of others can have a measurable impact at a time of real need and when those responsible for social justice have abdicated their duty.

Towards the end of the WOW festival awards ceremony Rossana was asked for a final word and poignantly said: “When future generations see what was happening in the UK at this time, they will ask: ‘Did you resist or did you collaborate?’”  

• For more information about the Hastings & Rother Refugee Buddy Project and to see how you can support our work, please visit the Hastings Community of Sanctuary website: https://hastings.cityofsanctuary.org/hastings-buddy-scheme