Packing up postcards....

 ... to send off to Herefordshire where St Mary's Church in Almeley has expressed interest in using them for a service this coming Sunday.

Great to think that our I PACKED THIS MYSELF language postcards will travel 'up country' for further use!

This service - on 'leaving home'  - looks likely to be particularly relevant to the themes of our project, funded by Cornwall Council.

It's about migration and asks the question: 'What would you take with you if you had to leave home for a long time?'

 

Anti-Slavery Day

 Good to meet Jane Yeomans of Transformation Cornwall today in Truro. It's Anti-Slavery Day and Jane tells me about the work that her organisation is planning in Cornwall.  

Here's a link to the Devon and Cornwall Police web page about Modern Slavery which sets out terms and definitions well.

Driving up, I just miss a really good piece on Women's Hour, highlighting the work of the Salvation Army in this area. Link to the programme here - the item is 29 minutes in.

Costa at Treliske Retail Park is very convenient for a meeting. Not as pretty as Helston Boating lake - but ideal for a chat.

Meeting with Bishop of St Germans

 

So pleased to be able to talk to the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans, today about our project I PACKED THIS MYSELF.  

It was a really good meeting: huge thanks to Bishop Hugh for taking the time to listen and for his enthusiasm.   

We're just starting to roll out plans for workshops in schools after the long months (years!) of the pandemic.

A boating lake meeting

 Great to catch up with Mirabela Robatzchi at Helston Boating Lake for another long chat about the issues involved in the project. Mirabela - originally from Romania and with a legal training -  is so thoughtful. An hour and a half whizzes by.

We started meeting at the Boating Lake in the early days of the pandemic (as soon as it was possible) and it continues to be a very pleasant place for a coffee and a chat.

Lecture at Callywith College, Bodmin

 The wonders of the internet - in this case, Microsoft Teams!

It was great for us to be able to give a lunchtime lecture at Callywith College, Bodmin, Cornwall, this afternoon (Wednesday 6 October 2021).  Mirabela Robatzchi, a Romanian lawyer now living in Helston, joined me to talk about migration and the hostility and prejudice often faced by migrants.

Some very good questions from students:  they asked Mirabela how long it took to adapt. And was language a real barrier?

And  - best of all - someone coming up at the end to volunteer to work with us and become more involved. We couldn't ask for a better result than that!

"We're never doing an anti-immigrant story again"

 Very good to hear about a total change of direction at the Daily Express BBC Radio 4 - The Media Show, "We're never doing an anti-immigrant story again"

In the programme: "Daily Express editor Gary Jones is Labour-voting, backed Remain, and wants his paper to reflect multicultural Britain. He tells Amol Rajan how he effected a complete change of direction at the tabloid, once known for its dodgy weather forecasts and anti-immigrant stance."

When we started work on migration-related issues in 2006, the Daily Express was one of the tabloid newspapers fuelling anti-immigration feeling with a stream of stories and incendiary headlines.

Hats off, Gary Jones.

Being an intensive care nurse right now

A big thank you to Keno Toriello, who sent me a link to this article in the Guardian: This is what it's like to be an intensive care unit nurse right now.

It's by 'Anonymous' - and a good read. Especially when you get to the powerful and moving final paragraph that rounds it off:

"I’m an EU migrant, like a vast number of people working in intensive care. Many of us were working on New Year’s Eve when the law changed, and we went from being residents of this country to being guests with settled status. When all this is over, I hope there is an acknowledgement that we didn’t leave this country; we didn’t leave our posts, even when it felt like Britain abandoned us. The Brexit vote was about taking back control of our borders, but it turns out they were worried about the wrong kind of foreign invader – it was the virus that was the problem. I hope people will remember that when it came to it, it was those people who chose to make this country home who kept the lights on."

What would the NHS do without nurses like the author?

Keno Toriello, originally from Chile, is working with us on I PACKED THIS MYSELF, our work to break down prejudice against people from overseas living in Cornwall and often playing a vital role in the local economy.