Every year, towards the end of June, the UK celebrates Refugee Week. This is a week-long, nationwide festival that, in its own words, celebrates “the contributions, creativity, and resilience of refugees.”

This year, the theme was Healing. Our own contributions to Refugee Week included the Global Grooves Day Festival, the Restore photography exhibition, a potluck, a circus skills workshop, and much more. 

The Restore photography exhibition was organised in conjunction with Ffotogallery, and collected together photos taken by photographers who have lived experience of the Asylum Process. MP for Cardiff Central Jo Stevens attended the exhibition on 24th June, sharing it on her social media. 

The undisputed highlight of the week was the Global Grooves Day Festival. This was an evening of live music from performers such as Oud Resists, the stage name of Salih Hassan, a Palestinian oud player who has now settled in Cardiff; our very own Oasis One World Choir; Barracwda percussion as the headliners; and neo-soul artist Asha Jane. 

On the theme of Healing, No Fit State Circus joined us for a day of mindful movement, which involved teaching us various circus skills. We also enjoyed learning table tennis from Catsci corporate volunteers.

One of the easiest ways to integrate into a new community is to share food. Oasis has been doing this with our Home Supper Clubs and our Street Food Café, so the ‘Nourish’ potluck was a natural inclusion in our Refugee Week activities. Food from various cultures across the world was shared, from injera (Ethiopian flatbread) to gyoza (dumplings from China and Japan) and more besides.