Blogs

Heather and Mark are staying with Aya and Mino in Japan.

The street sirens just went off, followed by a calm Tsunami warning - the TV is broadcasting more details on all channels. I rushed to get passport and mobile, but the warning is for a possible two metres wave in three hours time, so we have plenty of time to get to higher ground.

We're writing this from our bedroom in Aya's parent's house in Nagoya, Japan. We have been well fed and welcomed, have just unpacked a little, and will be off to sleep very soon!

We have just completed another great volunteer training and activities day.

Below, our volunteers write about what we got up to and how they enjoyed it:

How does Migration shape our perception of Europe?

Lisbon, Portugal.

I have just returned from a conference held by the British Council in partnership with the European Union and local organisations throughout Europe. It had a specific focus on approaches in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Canada and North America.

The West Indian Community in Coventry have come together to launch a campaign to raise funds for Haiti. A number of organisations and individuals have been meeting to formulate a plan to offer long term support to Haiti.

As always our monthly womens lunch was a great success.

Over 25 local women and 5 children enjoyed lots of food, laughter and interesting conversations. As there was less women than usual (we get about 40 women plus children on a regular basis), we went around and the ladies introduced themselves and shared something good that had happened to them in the last week.

Martin Luther King

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day in the USA - when Dr King's role in the struggle for civil rights is remembered in school classrooms, libraries and homes across the US.

Often less well remembered are King's wider concerns about the society in which he and many others worked so hard against racism.

We had our Christmas/Eid/Hanukkah event and it was really lovely, with over 50 people coming including Jews, Christians and Muslims (as well as people from Sikh, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Bahai and atheists backgrounds). We ate doughnuts and latkes (potato cakes) (for Hanukkah); roast chicken, stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce (for Christmas); and seerkomo (milky pudding/drink) and Samosas (for Eid) - as well as chocolate money (for all three!).

We also played Dreidels, and Pass the Parcel and had time to mix and mingle and get everyone talking to someone new and different. Mehru Fitter of Coventry Multi-Faith Forum provided great materials for displays on all three festivals.

Below are some of the comments from people who came and had fun:

Recently we've hosted international visitors from Kenya, Chicago and Japan, as well as continuing to attract international students as some of our volunteers.

We fund the work we do in a wide range of ways. Some work is grant-funded, some is done on contract to larger institutions - but for our international work, donations from our supporters are vital, and we've run two fund-raising auctions in recent months to support this. Both were held at Rona and David's house - Rona reports on them both below: