Fair Begins Here: From Cymru With Love
Hay Castle hosts a Valentine's Day event with a difference – turning the Illegal Migration Act into messages of solidarity, welcome and love for refugees
In the Great Hall at a renovated castle in a border town famous for its bookshops, children are busily weaving heart shapes out of willow, twisting ears of corn into dollies and throwing paper planes. Their adults crowd around a beautifully bound hardback book, scribbling colourful messages of hope across official looking documents. Within the family-friendly atmosphere, simple craft activities and pleasant chatter in genteel environs, there is a steely activism at work.
People have gathered to send a message – to people seeking sanctuary, and to political leaders – that ‘people in our part of Breconshire, as well as many other parts of Wales, are standing with refugees and calling for a new, fair plan’.
The event at Hay Castle is a part of a Valentine’s Day of action called by Together With Refugees, a UK-based coalition of more than 600 grassroots, community and refugee-led groups, international development charities, trade unions and faith groups who believe in showing compassion for people fleeing war, persecution or violence, and who are campaigning for ‘a better approach to supporting refugees that is more effective, fair and humane.’
Coinciding with a House of Lords debate on the UK Government’s latest legislation, the so-called Safety of Rwanda Bill, the activities aim to ‘[make] clear to our political leaders we need a new plan for refugees – one that is fair, kind and gets the system working again, for everyone.’
A poll commissioned in December 2023 found that 80% of the British public want an asylum system that is ‘well managed, fair and compassionate’, while just 18% think the government’s current approach is working well. The Together With Refugees campaign is backed by a range of organisations including the British Medical Association, UNISON, the National Association of Head Teachers, as well as faith leaders, sports stars and actors, in addition to those with lived experience of being a refugee.
Communities have been encouraged to make and share Valentine cards and orange hearts containing messages of love, welcome and solidarity for people seeking sanctuary. The colour orange has been associated with refugees since the Rio Olympics in 2016, when for the first time a ‘refugee nation’ competed in the Games. The flag of the ‘refugee nation’, designed by Yara Said, a Syrian who found sanctuary in Amsterdam, was a reminder of the bright orange of the lifejackets worn by so many refugees crossing the Mediterranean, and drew attention to the plight of more than a hundred million people displaced from their homes worldwide.
In Hay, more than 100 people took part in the event, which attracted people from across mid and south Wales and its border country throughout the day. Annie from Llantwit Major led the making of hearts and flowers from willow. Matt from Llandovery made banners for children to draw on. Harriet from Clyro made cards. Rachel from Talgarth helped families make corn dollies. Claire, Lynne, Philip and Lawrence helped to welcome people and share information.
Rowland from Brecon folded a large fleet of orange paper planes, each daubed with felt pen messages in opposition to Rwanda deportation flights, a follow up to his bombardment of local Conservative MP Fay Jones with the planes in a doomed attempt to persuade her to vote against the Borders and Nationality Bill. Meanwhile Michael, who has been living in Brecon for the last three years, took photos at the event. Originally from DR Congo, Michael has been seeking asylum for almost ten years – just one of more than 100,000 individual lives caught up in the UK’s asylum backlog.
The centrepiece was – appropriately enough in a town devoted to books – a special volume, prepared by Rebound Books at the request of Anna from Cathedine, binding the text of the various parliamentary bills that have created an increasingly hostile environment for sanctuary seekers in recent years. Throughout the day the dense legal text was overwritten by messages of hope and support for refugees from the local community. Emily made the first few folds before returning to Caerphilly.
Villages and towns in south Powys have been expressing such a culture of welcome since Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees (HBTSR) was formed in September 2015 – a response to what it called ‘the terrible refugee crisis in Europe, with people drowning in the Mediterranean’. Since then the group has combined fundraising and political lobbying with practical support for people seeking sanctuary, working closely with refugee support groups in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport to organise welcome days and short breaks in the countryside, offering friendship to people attending immigration tribunals and Home Office interviews, as well as supporting English classes and awareness raising activities in schools.
Over the last few years HBTSR have drawn attention to the need for better treatment for people seeking sanctuary with a number of stunts that have utilised the orange heart motif: circling St Mary’s Church in Brecon with a string of orange hearts, flying orange heart flags from prominent buildings in the area, and flying paper heart shaped planes outside both Y Gaer and Hay Castle.
The group are thankful to the castle’s Activities and Learning Manager Mari Fforde for permission to use the Great Hall, and now hope the venue might become a ‘Castle of Sanctuary’ following several other recent activities that have hosted sanctuary seekers including an exhibition of refugee art and a kite making day to mark the anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
To find out more about Together With Refugees’ day of action, visit their website or search the hashtag #FairBeginsHere on social media. On Saturday, Cwlwm will publish ‘My Soul Gets Bored’, an article by a refugee based in Swansea about her experience living with her family of five inside a single hotel room.
Thanks for this wonderful account of what was a memorable day. Thanks tk Hay Castke Trust for giving the space and to all volunteers who helped make this happen and to the many people who called in and joined with us.
This is truly wonderful. So heart-warming, when the news we read is usually so sad and depressing. Here is a story of a community doing great things to welcome people from around the world, people we need to cherish, not push away. Well done Hay…and Brecon…and all of you who took part!