The Latest Refugee Week Event, 28th June 2003

Multi-Cultural celebration for refugee week - By Misak Ohanian

On Saturday 28th June 2003, the Telfer room in Ealing Town Hall was decorated in rainbow-coloured posters and balloons. There were stalls and displays promoting the rich history, the proud cultural heritage and artefacts of many nationalities. There was the happy sound of laughing children dressed in national costumes running rings around their parents. The hall was brimming with the sweet smell and tastes of home made traditional foods.

It was national Refugee Week once again and almost all of LBE¹s diverse refugee communities were present and busy socialising in multiple languages. At approximately 5.30pm, Cindy Tsang, Treasurer of the Ealing Refugee Forum welcomed the two hundreds invited guests and members of the public and invited Mr Edmond Michaels, the Chairman of the Ealing Refugee Forum to say a few words on this occasion. (See enclosed) Following this, the Worshipful Mayor of LB of Ealing, Cllr. Gurcharan Singh expressed his and the Council¹s warmest greetings for the event and congratulated the Ealing Refuge Forum for organising this now annual event.

Cllr. Harvey Rose; leader of the Liberal Democrats within the Council was the next speaker to praise the ERF and give his support to the event. The final speaker in the formal part of the event was Mr. Stephen James, Programme Manager of Renewal SRB 6 Partnership who had kindly supported the event as in previous years.

Following the end of formal proceedings, those present were invited to taste the diverse traditional cuisine¹s represented from around the world. There were mouth-watering dishes and sweet pastries from Russia, Persia, China, Assyria and Africa. All competing for the attention of the hungry and excited guests, while in the background the exciting rhythms of African drums from "Heritage Ceramics" introduced an additional flavour and atmosphere tom savour. As soon as the audience settled down, the first of many wonderful cultural performances started. The first to go were 20 young children from the Russian Saturday School "Znaniye". The school, which was, established less then 6 months ago dazzled the appreciative audience with their songs, dances and poetry. They were accompanied and supervised throughout their committed teachers, including musicians Sergei and Daria. (Surnames) After 20 minutes, the audience was further entertained by a demonstration of Persian and Egyptian dancing by Cathy Selford from the Ladies Creative Centre.

At approximately 7.00pm, five teenagers girls, dressed in their proud traditional costumes from the West London Kurdish Association sang 3 national and patriotic songs. Following this, two children from the Afghan Children Taekwondo Academy gave an exciting performance of controlled aggression to the delight of everyone present.

At approximately 7.30, the recently established 'Akhtamar Armenian Dance Group¹ performed 3 traditional dances. The six talented dancers, Dalila Heath, Maral Kojayan, Arpi Kojayan, Lara Batarseh, Shaharig Shahbazian and Takouhi Tchertchian, performed gracefully, gliding and twirling in traditional costumes and headgear despite the limited space available to them in the hall.
The afternoon ended with further African drumming but this time the audience didn¹t just watch and listen but started taking part by dancing and joining in the exciting rhythms. Members from the large Assyrian Community joined in this spontaneous finale lasting until everyone had either left or was too tired to continue dancing.

The following community groups, which contributed, to this wonderful multicultural event were:

1- "Znaniye" Russian School,
2- Tamil Rights Action,
3- Great Lakes Development Network,
4- Akhtamar Armenian Dance Group,
5- Refugee Aid & Development,
6- Middle Eastern Christian Minorities Advisory Centre,
7- West London Kurdish Association,
8- Hillingdon Chinese Community Organisation,
9- Ladies Creative Centre, Heritage,
10-Society of Afghan Residents,
11-Somali Teachers Association,
12-Dekh Bhal Women & Girls Support Group,
13- African Aid for Orphans,

Other statutory and non-statutory agencies taking part were:
Ealing Advice Co-ordination & Development Project,
Ealing Primary Care Trust,
Ealing Children's Fund.

Speech by Edmond Michaels, the chairman of ERF

I would like to welcome everyone on behalf of Ealing Refugee Forum to our annual Refuge Week celebration here in Ealing Town Hall.

Ealing Refugee Forum which was founded in 1996 was the first forum owned and led by refugees through their community organisations. ERF is the voice of the refugee communities and represents their interests. As a forum we make sure that their interests and needs are identified and met. ERF was the foundation stone on which other forums were built in the West London area.

Refugee communities have their own culture and common needs. By working together we can identify problems and work out solutions. ERF has become more representative and more active in local circles and has achieved certain objectives. It is still working with the local authority and other statutory organisations to improve all refugees' access to health, housing, education, employment and training.

Refugee communities are so diverse that the Forum has discovered that honesty, equality and integrity are the basic principles around which its members need to unite to work for the benefit of all refugees. Ealing Refugee Forum exists to benefit refugees as a whole rather than any one specific community and only by adopting and living up to these principles is it able to fulfil its purpose.

Ealing Refugee Forum is a partnership in which all members should be equally treated. Ealing Refuge Forum is committed to providing equal opportunities to all refugee community groups regardless of race, colour, gender, religion or any other factor. Partnership does not consist of leaders telling their followers what is good for them. Successful partnership is based on appropriate consultation and mutual respect and understanding. Ealing Refugee Forum enters into partnership with the local authority and other statutory organisations on this principle. Furthermore Ealing Refugee Forum seeks to raise the standard of the partnerships it is involved with by ensuring that all organisations it works with operate on the principles of honesty, equality and integrity rather than the self-interest of predetermined favourites as is sometimes the case.

ERF is working closely with a number of local strategic partnerships to ensure fair representation and equal opportunities for all refugee communities and participating in making the decisions that affect refugee communities.

ERF supports Ealing Advice Network for providing valuable training and support to refugee organisations and Advice Groups.

Ealing Refugee Forum has many supporters in the statutory and public sectors and has benefited greatly from their support. In particular we would like to thank Mr. Andy Roper of Ealing Council for Voluntary Service, Dr. Jackie Chin, Director of Public Health at Ealing Primary Care Trust for her ongoing confidence in our organisation and for the support we receive from RENEWAL through Steven James and for Ms. Jackie Hall and her team of Ealing Children's Fund who has been very supportive. We also work closely with Mr. Chris Kingham at the Strategy, Planning and Partnerships section and above all we have established a very good working relationship with Ealing Council and we thank both the Leader of the Council John Cudmore and Councillor Shital Manro for their tireless efforts within the Association of London Government Grants and whose effects have brought fruitful results for refugee groups in Ealing and in particular their outstanding role in securing funds for Middle East Christian Minorities Advisor Centre.

A significant number of refugees are providing a valuable service to this society equal to that provided by other sections of the community. Examples are all around us in High Street shopping, broadcasting, entertainment, science and sport amongst other areas.

We expect more refugees to be given the opportunity to use their talents for the benefit of all and play a full part in the life of the community. There is still a great deal to do but Ealing Refugee Forum will continue to promote the real cause of refugees for the benefit of everyone who lives and works in this borough.

Edmond Michaels.
Chair
ERF.