Archive for May, 2008
Here’s an opportunity to get involved in an inspiring intercultural project working with young people from low-income families. The YWCA Roundabout Centre is looking for volunteers to help with their summer school and play scheme during July. No qualifications needed (training is given) and volunteers from black and ethnic minority communities are particularly welcome.
YWCA Roundabout is a women’s community centre dedicated to eradicating racism. Much more than that, since 1968 their Summer School has provided fun and exciting activities for children who have often experienced discrimination.
This year’s summer scheme runs throughout July at Drummond High School with the help of volunteers. So far there are 18 volunteers from many different cultural backgrounds.
If you would like to know more contact Emma or Lorna on 0131 556 1168 or 0131 557 4695. EMAIL info@ywcaroundabout.org
May 30th, 2008
If you are interested in politics there is still time to apply for the very interesting political mentoring project about to be launched by LINKnet, Edinburgh’s minority ethnic mentoring service. But only just! The deadline is Monday 19 May.
We have found out about the scheme just as we are about to launch our own more informal shadow scheme Opening Doors (and more about that next week). But we are passing on the information in case you pick the news up in time to apply.
LINKnet was set up in 2000 with the aim of encouraging people from disadvantaged groups to take part in Scotland’s political and public life. Now, with the help of a grant from The Equality and Human Rights Commission, LINKnet is launching a nine month mentoring programme open to people from all disadvantaged groups.
The idea is to prepare 15 people to take up positions in Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh and Lothians Councils, and other public bodies with a role in making public policy.
If you want to know more contact Lisa Lam for an application pack. The closing date is Monday 19 May. Short listed applicants will be interviewed the following week.
Call LINKnet on 0131 225 or email lisa@linknetmentoring.org.uk
May 17th, 2008
Another busy month in Leith and this newsletter offers just a glimpse of what is going on. There is groundbreaking discussion between faith groups (Seeking World Peace and Faith and Feminism) and hard work in community gardens (see Persevere and Redbraes). There is also sad news that Edinburgh Refugee Centre is closing but we congratulate them on their achievements over the last four years and look forward to their celebration in June.
May 12th, 2008
Edinburgh Refugee Centre is closing after four years of service to asylum seekers and refugees in the city. But they are not just fading away. During International Refugee Week in June the Centre will end with a party to celebrate what they have managed to achieve for hundreds of vulnerable people.
If previous parties organised by the Centre are anything to go by this will be a heartwarming event. The meeting place for people far from home has a wonderfully welcoming atmosphere. That was the first thing we noticed when we went to a winter party in the upper room at St George’s West nearly three years ago.
So Leith Open Space, among many others, are sorry that a reduction in public funding means the Centre must close. But numbers of asylum seekers arriving in Edinburgh have dropped steadily since the city stopped providing accommodation for people seeking refuge from civil war, torture or religious or political oppression in their own lands.
Glasgow, currently home to more dispersed asylum seekers than any other part of the UK, is the only local authority in Scotland to receive asylum seekers. Although it is notoriously difficult to give accurate figures, there are an estimated 4,000 - 5,000 asylum seekers in Glasgow. In Edinburgh where there is no local authority housing for asylum seekers, the number of asylum seekers is around 30 and falling.
According to the statement from Edinburgh Refugee Centre: “The number of asylum seekers staying in Edinburgh has reduced significantly in recent months and the demand for our services has dropped accordingly. This has had an effect on the funding available from our partners for working with refugees and asylum seekers.”
There are many myths about asylum seekers so it is worth quoting this detail from the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees:
Since 2003 it has been very difficult to claim asylum in Scotland. Although the Home Office has Immigration Service offices in Glasgow, they will only register asylum claims for families, unaccompanied minors or for people with ’special needs’. Other asylum seekers who arrive in Scotland have to travel to Asylum Screening Units in Liverpool, Croydon or Solihull in order to claim asylum. As a result of this policy, asylum seekers who arrive in Glasgow are unlikely to settle in the city [Scottish Refugee Council 2003].
Back in the capital city, Edinburgh Refugee Centre is justifiably proud of what they have managed to achieve over the last four years. Working in partnership with specialist and mainstream agencies, the Centre has provided advice to hundreds of vulnerable people, connecting them with the support they need and helping those who gain refugee status to integrate into life in Edinburgh.
For the next few weeks drop-in sessions offering advice on housing, health, immigration and English language classes, will run as normal until Thursday 5 June. The Centre will close to the public on Thursday 12 June.
Centre manager Neil McCulloch ends news of the last monthly programme with an invitation: “The Refugee Week Celebration will take place on Thursday 19th June from 7-10pm. There will be some food and drinks, an international music DJ, a live band, and children’s entertainment such as face and henna painting. Entry is free and I hope that you will be able to join us for one last celebration.”
The Edinburgh Refugee Centre is in St George’s West, Shandwick Place.
May 12th, 2008
Women of all faiths, and none, are invited to take part in a discussion about faith and feminism at YWCA Roundabout Centre, Gayfield Place on Wednesday 14 May, 7.00 pm. If you know anyone who would be interested, pass on the news.
Faith and Feminism is hosted by the Edinburgh Feminist Network who organised the very successful Reclaim the Night march in Edinburgh last autumn. Rebecca Heller of EFN says the discussion promises a fascinating insight into the experience of women of different faiths. But you don’t have to belong to a particular faith or be a feminist to take part. So far Rebecca says the panel includes a Christian, an atheist, a Humanist and a Pagan.
If you would like to take part or know someone who might like to then get in touch with Rebecca. She says: “If you are considering speaking but are nervous, please don’t worry - some of the other panel are dead nervous too (naming no names!) and the chair will ensure that the discussion and any questions are kept as safe and as gentle as possible.”
You can email Rebecca at: E_F_N@myway.com
May 11th, 2008
An outdoor classroom, a haven for wildlife, and room to grow fruit and vegetables: this is the plan on the drawing board for Redbraes Community Garden. Now the organising committee just need some help to make it happen on the ground.
While Persevere Community Garden is taking shape, something equally inspiring is happening not far away. Among the houses of Redbraes there are plans to turn a hidden green space into a thriving community garden where people of all ages can come together to grow food and flowers on the banks of the Water of Leith
This is the vision of local community police officer Simon Daley backed by members of Redbraes Residents Association. Local residents, who have already built the Park Centre in Redbraes Park, met in October 2007 to pool ideas for a community garden that will offer an outdoor classroom for local school children, a haven for wildlife and allotments for fruit and vegetables.
Since then the community garden steering group has lost no time. Garden designer Rebecca Govier used residents’ ideas to draw up plans making the most of the sheltered site visited by herons, ducks and the occasional kingfisher. The City of Edinburgh Council has agreed to build garden paths and Simon Daley has applied to Breathing Places, the Lottery fund that encourages local people to create space for wildlife, nature and community involvement.
“It’s ambitious,â€? says Davie Thomson, chair of Redbraes Residents Association, “but if we all work together we can show how to create a wee bit of sanity in the every day hustle and bustle of city life.”
That’s why Davie, Simon and the rest of the steering group are inviting local volunteers of all ages to get involved. To find out more, they say you are welcome to pop into the Redbraes Park Centre where you can see the plans and details. Your opinions and help are welcome too!
Telephone 0131 467 3879 or e-mail redbraes@blueyonder.co.uk
May 8th, 2008
Groundbreaking work at Persevere Community Garden, thanks to Mary Moriarty whose appeal at the Port O’ Leith produced some very welcome voluntary help.
Thanks to Mary Moriarty we had excellent help to dig the toughest plot at Persevere Community Garden on a grey Saturday afternoon.
After spotting our appeal for help in the last Leith Open Space newsletter, Mary put a notice in her Port O’Leith bar asking for volunteers (adding ‘bring your own spade’ ). The following week Christopher Webb and Kinnon turned up with spades (and buckets of energy) to help Ray, Nick and myself turn over the challenging first plot.
“Last time I was in here it looked very different,” was Christopher’s comment looking at the site he remembered from primary school football games. During the afternoon he developed his own athletic approach to digging the hard ground: using the spade as a kind of pogo stick proved to be very effective at breaking through clay and concrete!
Despite the hard work of all the voluntary groups (Greener Leith, Green Seeds, Persevere Community Flat and Leith Open Space) there is much more preparation to do
before we can start planting veg. But Alastair Tibbitt of Greener Leith is organising a delivery of topsoil and Councillor Gordon Munro is helping to chase up a load of compost. So Leith Open Space has invested in a nice bag of main crop potatoes to plant once we have removed all the stones and lumps of cement.
So keep watching this space…and get in touch whenever you feel like a bit of healthy exercise!
May 7th, 2008
Sandwiched between Young Scot and Safe Sex, will Leith Open Space attract any interest at Telford’s Student Festival of Learning? Click ‘more’ to find out.
Setting up my stall at the Student Festival of Learning in Edinburgh’s Telford College I soon realised that I was a bit short of merchandise. Thanks to Tommy we had the biggest and boldest banner in the hall and I had put together a nice display of bright leaflets about intercultural arts events, voluntary work and community gardens. Then I discovered Leith Open Space was sandwiched between Young Scot and Safe Sex and it was obvious they both had a much more interesting selection of freebies.
“It’s all about give aways,” said one of the Young Scots sympathetically as a queue gathered in front of his stall to pick up some very smart triangular plastic markers. Then I looked to my left and saw a crowd of young women lining up to examine a rather different line of plastic give aways on the Safe Sex stall.
I sent a surreal text to family and friends. “Amazing”, Tom texts back, “take a picture”. So
I did and got rather a good one of Ms Safe Sex sipping a pot noodle but sadly she told me they are not allowed to be photographed for publication. Mr Young Scot had no such qualms, “Just make sure it’s my good side.”
All in all, Telford’s Diversity Day was so interesting I stayed twice as long as I intended. With Mike Cowley’s help I even had time to sit in on a couple of workshops which gave me a glimpse of the extraordinary scope of further education. In Nil by Mouth a group of young men became seriously engaged in discussion about sectarianism in Scotland. Mike’s workshop on Rock against Racism provided a thought provoking exploration of the grassroots rebellion against the fascism of Enoch Powell and – would you believe it – Eric Clapton who made his millions out of black music. (I did not know that Clapton still believes that Powell was a brave man speaking out against the danger of black supremacy. The one black student in the room said something like: “what planet is he on?”)
Back at my stall, I found a few people lining up to find out about the Opening Doors shadow scheme I am helping to organise with Mike and the rest of the Leith Open Space Group to enable minorities to become more involved in politics. A group of Chinese students had already picked up a load of postcards advertising the extraordinary intercultural extravaganza Dialogues of Wind and Bamboo in the Botanics in June. So I didn’t need the plastic merchandise after all – but I wouldn’t mind getting hold of a few of those magic markers.
The show is over but the message lingers on. Thanks to Tommy for the banner!
May 5th, 2008
