Good news on the funding

An email from Judith Cook to say that she's authorising the second tranche of Migration Impacts Funding, so we can continue the workshops in schools. Hurray.

A natural break for the summer

We have finished workshops and the first part of the project. Now - a long break over the summer, while we wait to see whether our work through the Migration Impacts Fund can be extended through the autumn. Fingers crossed. But it's a difficult fiscal climate.

A private view at Penair and a world premiere

A Private View of I Packed This Myself at Penair School, Truro. Some nervousness beforehand. How many people would come? But sumptuous food. Lots of people. Students who greeted guests and gave informed and engaging guided tours of the exhibition. A tremendous atmosphere even before a bus arrived from Leedstown with workers from Southern England Farms (SEF) who had made a film of their lives, The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm.
Quite an emotional moment - it seemed such a breakthrough that they were able to come and see the first screening of the film.  Inga Riaukaité, Andrius Riauka, Domantus Plusciauskis and Valius Icontrimas pose here by photos by Tom Pilston of migrant workers in west Cornwall.

And viewing the photos...













An old friend - Ross Tibbles of University College Falmouth with work created for I Packed This Myself when it opened in Camborne, March 2009.

And work created by students at Penair, using the flat pack suitcases we have created to go alongside the exhibition.

This only happened due to the work of a large number of people - too many to mention, as always, but Carmel Henry and Tanya Davies at Penair really took the project to heart. As did Ruth Morecock, Head of Art and Joan Smith, ESOL teacher at Southern England Farms, Leedstown. The film could not have been made without the backing of SEF and Jane Richards.  And of course nothing at all would have been possible without funding for all the materials and workshops from the Migration Impacts Fund.

A review of the week....

A busy week but time this morning to reflect and sharpen the real focus of the project - the impact of migration. Hazel Blears, launching the Migration Impacts Fund in March last year:

"Migration brings significant benefits for this country. But it is a complex area never far from heated public debate. That is why we need an honest discussion about it, that acknowledges the local pressures which migration can create in our communities and on our public services."

We've found that it certainly excites heated public debate. Community hysteria in Pool last autumn, for example. I hesitate to put a link to this repellent column written at the time - but I suppose people could write to the Editor and ask why it was ever published.
We've also found
 - we need to refer constantly to the definition of migrant worker reached after consultation with Inclusion Cornwall i.e. someone who has come from overseas to work in this country, for economic reasons, and has been here for less than five years.
 - it also important to calibrate our workshops, according to whether there are migrant worker members of staff and the children of migrant workers in schools where we are working
-  crucial, too, is the presentation of the work done by migrants in this country. Manual labour is vital to keep the economy ticking.  Any intimation that this work is of any less 'value' than professional work needs to be avoided at all costs. A blog reader wrote to me about this, stressing that the value of manual labour should be emphasised at all times - and reactions against it avoided.
She is angered by "the attitude that 'Those that do that kind of work just aren't as good as me.'... 'I don't need to get my hands dirty.'... 'These people have nothing to do with me.'... 'I  have nothing in common with them.'... 'These people don't count'."

"I worked as a migrant labourer for four years. As an American in America.  And the words I remember: 'There's nothing I hate worse than an apple picker that can read' . This is not a migrant issue - it's a human issue. It's acknowledging and respecting every human's existence and contribution to this amazing Life on Earth."

Particularly successful this week was Ewa's bag, with her selection of possessions brought to remind her of home. Ewa in fact has been an inspiration - she has embraced the project passionately. She clearly has a campaigning spirit. Her father was a Solidarity activist. One of her earliest memories is of him returning home with his coat drenched with tear gas, and the whole family crying.

Another Matosic show, repositioning in Pool and a meeting off the Liskeard bypass

Paul Matosic writes to tell me of another show - Ephemeral States.  These things come in bunches, as he says!
A tricky start to the day as our planned assembly in Pool, Cornwall, is cancelled. We had been invited to run four assemblies, one every morning this week, but two migrant worker members of staff (Polish and Lithuanian) expressed concern. The cancellation is a  blow - as this was one school where we had particularly wanted to work. It's an area where incidents of prejudice against migrant workers are well documented. There are several children of migrant workers in the school.
We plan a meeting for tomorrow to reassess our approach.

Then on, up the A30, to Liskeard for a meeting with  Judith Cook, who is monitoring the project funding (from the Migration Impacts Fund).
Then back to Roche for a meeting with Ewa to review the day's events and plan for the week and beyond.

Getting to proof stage and calling the UN

Deadlines creeping up very fast. Our printer in Preston is closing over Christmas. We are in a rush to finish off the materials that go with the new suitcases. Am looking for up to date statistics on migration to include. After googling fruitlessly decide to pick up the phone. An extremely helpful press officer at the Home Office finds many positive stats. Migrants contributed an estimated £6 billion to the economy in 2006. Call the UN in New York for up to date figures on global migration. Again, someone has facts at his fingertips. We get the red hot off the press estimate for 2010. Talk to Nigel Costley, regional secretary southwest TUC. He sends me a link to their excellent publication Who Makes Up the South West? - facts and figures about migrant workers and in particular debunking tabloid scare stories... "They're taking our jobs' etc. Arrange to have some copies to take into schools with the exhibition and workshops.
Talk to the head at Pool School, book dates to go down for assemblies. We'll also produce materials for discussions in classrooms in the days after the assemblies during registration periods. Will be consulting Michal Kirstein, a psychology graduate currently studying for a Masters in Denmark, on the content. Michal worked in Cornwall for several seasons, labouring on farms.
Am very glad that we will be working in at Pool. Pool is an area where migrant workers were recently in the news.
Hopefully we can link up with community police work in the area while we're there... A new policeofficer dealing with migrant workers is actually to be based there, funded by the Migration Impacts Fund (as are our materials.)

Migration Impacts Fund launch in Cornwall

Andrea Gilbert of Inclusion Cornwall launching the Migration Impacts Fund in Truro. The aim - to improve services for migrant workers in Cornwall and to help communities integrate (raising understanding on both sides). We have funding for an Action Lab to take I Packed This Myself to schools and groups of people of all ages across Cornwall.