So, I'm guessing you've all seen on the news about Syria.
They’re in the midst of a long, messy & harrowing conflict that has torn apart communities, families & 'countless' lives.
Except those lives aren't 'countless'. Every single one can & should count & be counted, & too much of the mainstream coverage fails to convey the real impact of this crisis on individuals. Many people 'can't face watching the news' or 'feel powerless to help' given the scale of the issue, because yes it's huge & no I don't have the solution to ending Syria’s suffering. But that doesn’t make me, or us, powerless.
Bath Welcomes Refugees has brought me face to face with the kinds of people whose lives I’ve seen destroyed on TV & online. They’re actual people, who laugh at silly YouTube videos, cook amazing food that they won’t let you turn down, share stories, despair at their children’s pen-covered faces & offer (unsolicited) advice on how to stop being single…
The challenges they still face are overwhelming, but there are actions we can take in response. As well as providing welcome packages, language support & befriending, our goal is to bring more people to safety. In order to be a Community Sponsor & enable another family to come here, we need to raise a min. of £5000 per adult refugee. Gulp. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from BWR, though, it’s that you can still have an impact by taking small steps in the right direction. On a day-to-day basis, those steps could be taking one of the mums to a doctors appointment, rehearsing the alphabet song on a loop with the kids, or, in this case, abseiling down a quarry on a Saturday afternoon.
If you sponsor me to dangle from a rope & hobble down the side of a cliff face, then we can continue taking action to improve at least some of the ‘countless’ lives that we see decimated on our TV screens. Every £1 gets us closer to welcoming another family & to offering ongoing support to those who are rebuilding their lives here. Please help!
