Second day in Newquay and lively discussions

Our second day in a row at Treviglas, Newquay. Inga Riaukaité comes too. Inga was one of the four workers at SEF (Southern England Farms) who made the film, The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm, that we showed at Penair School, Truro, in March.  Pick her, and Vadim, up from SEF in Leedstown at 7am.  It's an early start for us all...

We have three classes during the morning. And lively discussions. Inga is from Lithuania. One boy asks whether if French is the language spoken in Lithuania. Another asks whether all the buildings are red - he has heard so.
All are very interested to hear about the work that Inga (a qualified industrial engineer) and Vadim (former medical student, ballroom dancing champion of Latvia and keen fisherman) are now doing on the land. Both have worked in the fields, cutting cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli etc. Inga now works in the packhouse as a supervisor.
We ask if anyone has a dream of being a doctor some day? Out of 75 children in the three classes this morning - one has this ambition. Vadim is surprised that there are not more.
Inga's dream is to be either a police officer or join the army.
She is a champion runner (having run for Vilnius). She runs every morning on the North Cliffs (near Godrevy). She is also a keen climber who's next aim is to go pot-holing. She loves clubbing - she has visited Newquay before! Her energy and enthusiasm, in fact, fill the classrooms ...
Today - as yesterday  - few students knew about the Soviet Union and its history. Some were able to point to Lithuania and Latvia on the map.
But one girl in particular, out of the blue, said this morning she was very interested in the Soviet Union and its former republics. She understood something about the pressures Vadim (as a Russian) had faced in the country after independence.
It has been interesting to see in the workshops this year how different classes have different dynamics and levels of engagement with the subject. This engagement has nothing to do with academic achievement. It all seems to depend on the students' spirit and openness to new ideas.

This morning is full of surprises. We ask students to write lists of the things that they would pack in their suitcases, if they had to leave home to create a life in another country.
Inga and Vadim have brought bags filled with things that they actually did bring here when they arrived, in search of work.

Inga shows students a mini t-shirt that her friends gave her: they knew that she had once wanted to join the army. "Inga, the army needs you!" says the slogan. She's also brought a photo of her athletic team...

And photos of herself training and rockclimbing....

Plus her graduation certificate. To remind herself of her ambition and her dreams.

Journeys made to and from Newquay...

Today's workshops are in Treviglas School, Newquay. It's the first day back after Half Term - a good day to be talking about journeys. Had anyone been away on holiday?

Vadim Hothova, from Southern England Farms, is here to help. Ewa Cimochowska has had to go back to Poland, with her husband Waldek, as her mother has had a stroke. We miss her - but Vadim steps bravely into the breach.

We're working with Year 9 students, as we have done elsewhere. This is a good and interesting cohort to work with. There are links to be made with other areas of the Curriculum. The classes we worked with today were going on to learn about the former Soviet Union, and Stalingrad, in history.
In some of the classes we spoke to, students did not quite know what the Soviet Union was - or had been.
It was relevant. Vadim explained how he, a Latvian, had a Russian heritage and had experienced difficulties at University because his professor - he felt - had made things difficult for Russians.

But first, we lay the groundwork for discussions. We tell the classes how we have been working elsewhere. Everywhere, people's responses have been different. In this school, in each of the three classes we work with, there are children whose parents have moved to Cornwall from overseas. We only realise this when they fill in answers to our initial questionnaire.... Have you ever made a journey? Have you ever lived in a country where you don't speak the language?
It's a school with a strongly 60s feel. A very familiar look to the place. Palm trees included. As a quick look at photos of Helston and Penair will reveal...

But all students are different. We handed out our questionnaire at the start. And most students found the last question the toughest: What is the most difficult thing you have ever done?
The answers were quite touching. A few students said living through their parents splitting up. Or facing up to the death of a grandparent.
But a surprising number said their most difficult experience - in life so far - involved leaving friends behind, and moving to a new place to start a new life.
This, of course, is exactly what Vadim had done.
We talked about his experience. He told us how it had been. In Latvia, he had studied medicine. He had been National Junior Ballroom Dancing Champion. But things had been tough. Sometimes he had worked 22 hours a day to make ends meet. I couldn't imagine how anyone could do that. What about 'night', and sleeping?
But apparently you can do that if you have two jobs, and sleep during your breaks at both. You can sleep for 20 minutes intervals during this time - if you are used to it.
But, clearly, it was not a life-style that could be sustained for long. Vadim moved to the UK. He worked on a flower farm in Cornwall before moving to SEF, where he works now. SEF, one of the UK's largest vegetable producers, is based near Leedstown. They grow cauliflower, cabbage, courgettes and spring greens on farms all over the county.

We also talked about other workers who had moved to Cornwall from overseas. The Portuguese, for example, who live in the Bodmin area and work at local meat processing factories. We showed photography by Tom Pilston. For the first time, we have students who recognise some of the places featured - Bugle, Roche and Bodmin.  One student recognises Bugle as his uncle has a butcher's shop there.
We look at the Portuguese suitcase, filled with items that Portuguese workers brought to Cornwall when they moved here to find work. We play the usual game of trying to work out the reasons for certain items. (There are no Portuguese in the class, but people make informed guesses).

Then Vadim reveals what he brought with him when he came to the UK.  He explains: detective novels. Sherlock Holmes in Russian.

Plus - a medal. This is a medal for fishing: another area in which he excels. A Catholic icon, given to him by his grandmother and a plaster angel, given to him by his girlfriend. The angel is a good luck charm. He carries it with him, wherever he goes (even when working).
Everyone has a good luck charm, it seems.
It is pouring with rain when we drive back.
On the way home, buy some delphiniums from a stall by the side of the road. Seasons change and so do the flowers. The daffodils, naturally, are long gone.

Saturday night meeting and Inga's birthday

A meeting at SEF (Southern England Farms), Leedstown, with Inga and Vadim who will be working with me on workshops in schools around Cornwall next week. It's the end of a long day for them both - a Saturday night. And in addition Inga's birthday! Am so pleased that they are willing and able to help. Discover, too, new things about them both. Vadim was junior dance champion of Latvia. Inga is a champion runner (representing her home town, Vilnius).
Outside it's a cold summer evening.

The local parish magazine is out and in it is news of The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm, shot by Inga and three fellow workers. Grass roots coverage. Great that this way, at least, local people will hear about the neighbours they tend to have little contact with...

Making plans for workshops in Cornish schools

We'll be at Treviglas (Newquay),  then Camborne at the start of June.  Inga (who works at SEF Leedstown and made The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm with three colleagues) and Vadims, also  from SEF, will be working with me.

Two news items about migration in The Times today. "Tensions rise as jobless migrants are blamed for the pain in Spain."  A report from Vic, an industrial town north of Barcelona, which is struggling to cope with hundreds of unemployed people. The vast majority are immigrants - Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans. At least 10,000 had been working in the town - doing the jobs that others did not want. When the Spanish ecnomic bubble burst, they faced destitution. In reaction: people are calling for immigration to be controlled. Spain's equivalent of the BNP (Platform for Catalonia) are whipping up anti-immigrant feeling about this - ignoring the fact that the economy previously depended on their input.

The second reports on Home Office figures: Record immigration surge as more than 200,000 get British passports in a year." The surge last year was 58%. It's the highest since records were first published 47 years ago. Of those receiving a British passport, more than half come from Africa and the Indian subcontinent.  One possible clause? The Times suggests a rush to apply for citizenship befre rules linking it to earnings, skills and education take effect.

Otherwise keeping an eye on recent publications about migrant workers and immigration.

Recently from the Migrants' Rights Network.... Immigration documents checks and workplace raids: a negotiators guide

They say ...

"Ever tried an immigration officer’s uniform on for size? Unless you’ve worked for the UK Border Agency itself, we would imagine probably not.

But if you’re an employer in the UK, you are supposed to have been getting pretty familiar with the business of checking immigration documents, particularly since tougher regulations on irregular working came into force in February 2008. The hike in UKBA workplace raids since then has also increased the spotlight on workers’ immigration status.

Bringing immigration enforcement into British workplaces, the Government has presented new challenges to activists, trade unions, migrants, migrant organisations and employers.

These challenges can only be met with proactive negotiation with employers to ensure that only necessary document checks are carried out, and that these are carried out consistently and fairly. This should deny any unscrupulous employer the opportunity to exploit migrant workers, to divide workers or to threaten those that stand up for their rights.”

And John Vincent's Network ebulletin, as usual, is full of news.

Migration issues – Government, Government Agencies and Local Government

Longitudinal study of migrant workers in the East of England

 

Focusing on the perspective of migrant workers in the Eastern region (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambs, Herts, Essex and Beds.) Studying: factors that influence decisions on coming to and length of stay in the UK; barriers to full participation in the regional economy; and, barriers to social inclusion in the local community; how these change over time and whether public policy has an influential role on these decisions.”

“Is the progressive case for migration truly progressive?”

 

Article by Tim Finch, the Head of Migration, Equalities and Citizenship at ippr.

  

New books for young people featuring migration

Gillian Cross. Where I belong (OUP, 2010), a story involving a Somali family - read a review in the Guardian by Mary Hoffman.

A misty morning in west Cornwall

A misty morning in west Cornwall for our first workshop directly with children of migrant workers and their friends. Children at Pool School have volunteered, in pairs, to attend.
We arrive first thing and work all day. Games first to break the ice. A prize for the pair building the highest tower.

People are so creative that we award a further prize for the most imaginative structure - architecturally.

Then we get to work, making cases of metaphorical journeys. Children have come from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania to the school. Ewa Cimochowska, who has been helping throughout, has come along to help

People draw pictures from their journeys to this country. We discuss problems faced - difficulties and how were best tackled.   
We've brought our map suitcases to help things along - here pictured with new cases.

One of the aims of this workshop is to come up with an Action Plan, that might be used in this school and elsewhere to help new arrivals - children who don't speak English, find it tough to make friends and experience difficulties.
All sorts of suggestions are made...
It is a very lively team.

Who have their own ideas of how to brainstorm! They draw a picture of an imaginary Greek girl, called Luella, who arrives at the school.

Then imagine her thoughts and feelings.
A good day. Lunch in the school canteen and the first time for ages I have had chocolate sponge and custard.

Later call in at SEF (Southern England Farms) Leedstown, to see the four filmmakers whose film premiered at I Packed This Myself in Truro in March. We discuss future plans.

It's a fairly chilly early summer evening - slightly damp and the trees (just) in full leaf.

Drive past daffodils fields that are now being prepared for the next crop.

A trip to Leedstown and the new film

Down to Cornwall again for the start of the week - and a trip to Leedstown to see the Lithuanian workers at Southern England Farms (SEF) who have made a film of their lives. We plan to show it at the launch of I Packed This Myself at Penair School, Truro, on Tuesday. The filmmakers (Inga Riaukaité, Andrius Riauka, Domantus Plusciauskis and Valius Icontrimas)  have done a brilliant job. Jane Richards of SEF who has kindly given permission for the filming comes to see it too.
Everyone is happy.