When medieval pilgrims walked to Canterbury they passed the evenings telling their stories, so one pro-migrants group is setting off on a nine-day walking tour to use story-telling as a way of highlighting the ordeals of detainees held in Britain’s immigration removal centres.
The Refugee Tales walk is an initiative of the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group, which was originally set up as a parish justice and peace group in Oxted but now includes people of all faiths and none. The 13-21 June trek, which covers Refugee Week, begins in Dover and ends in Crawley. Each day’s approximately ten-mile walk will end with performances of specially commissioned music, poetry and writing. A host of authors including Ukrainian-born Marina Lewycka and Booker-nominated Abdulrazak Gurnah, working pro bono, have visited a detention centre and spent time with the people whose tales they will be writing and performing. Pieces include the chaplain’s tale, based on Sr Margaret Baxter of the Jesuit Refugee Service who visits detainees, plus perspectives from a lawyer, a counsellor and a lorry driver’s tale. The ex-detainees’ tale will be performed by a group of former detainees now living in London.
Many detainees are asylum-seekers who haven’t managed to prove their case; others have overstayed their visa or are awaiting deportation. The UK is the only country where such people can be detained indefinitely. A local priest who visits detainees told us: “The sad thing is the effect this has on detainees’ mental health and their relationships. Until people know how awful it is, no one’s going to change it.”
For more info email refugeetales@gdwg.org.uk
Above: Yarls Wood Detention Centre. Photo: No Borders South Wales
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