Still Human Still Here
http://stillhumanstillhere.wordpress.com/
The Sanctuary, a garden designed to
highlight the plight of asylum seekers in Britain at the BBC Gardeners'
Word Live event- by Bishop of Birmingham David Urquhart
On
first impressions Sanctuary Garden is a simple design, with a calming
pool and beautiful planting. But this garden has hidden layers and
attempts to both convey a message and challenge popular misconceptions.
It encourages visitors to reflect on how asylum seekers are treated in
the UK.
Scratch the surface and the real story unfolds. At its
heart, a tree, stripped of its bark and painted white represents the
thousands of ‘Living Ghosts’: people now living in the UK without any
support from the state, unable to work, homeless and destitute. Many
consider starving and sleeping on the streets to be preferable to
returning to the dangers from which they have fled.
Meanwhile in the public mind asylum seekers have become synonymous with benefit cheats, scroungers and parasites.
I
believe a garden is a fitting symbol with which to win hearts and
minds. Since I was a small child a garden has been for me a place of
wellbeing and peace. I enjoy the mixture of recreation and creativity
that it offers me and when I can find a spare hour I often choose to
spend it in the garden, pruning, sowing, weeding or planting.
The
Sanctuary garden is well designed with features that reflect some of
the struggles faced by asylum seekers as well as aspirations to live a
productive and fulfulled life in security. Gardens are a recurring
motif in the Bible as places of flourishing and harmony, representing a
balance between rest and relaxation with work and productivity.
The
Garden of Eden in Genesis is an archetype of this while several of the
Old Testament prophets use the garden to represent the healing or
restoration of an individual or a nation.
In Isaiah 51 the
prophet says: “For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her
waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like
the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song. “
In a climate of
misconception and prejudice can we dare to dream of offering a garden
sanctuary to people who have reached these shores and asked for refuge?
Can we begin to offer a welcome and hospitality that is generous and
not grudging, magnanimous rather than meagre. Are we prepared to offer
meaningful employment to those with skills, homes, shelter and food to
those with no access to benefits or healing, therapy and comfort to
those traumatised by violence?
For this is the kind of response
sought by the Old Testament prophets and embodied in the life of Jesus
Christ. We need to be prepared to tune out some of the scare-mongering
and listen with open minds and hearts to the stories of asylum seekers
and refugees living among us in the UK.
It is equally fitting
that this garden is being displayed days before the launch of Refugee
Week. This year the overall aim of Refugee Week is to create a better
understanding between communities by promoting positive representations
of refugees.
A new campaign, Simple Acts, has been launched
which is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to
change perceptions of refugees. These acts include reading an article
about exile, watching a film about refugees, praying for an asylum
seeker, or cooking a dish from another country.
I am promoting
this campaign in the Diocese of Birmingham because I believe simple
things done collectively can help shift our perceptions and ignite our
compassion.
We have already seen much evidence of this in
Birmingham where many dedicated people are working both to alleviate
suffering and tell the stories of asylum seekers and refugees in this
city. Sanctuary Garden, a collaboration between Robert Hughes and WRB
Churches Together, Cardiff and sponsored by Church Action on Poverty is
also a tribute to the valuable work being done by so many parishes,
groups, projects and churches who feel the injustice is intolerable and
compassion is the only possible response.
Perhaps you could join
them by taking on a Simple Act or by calling for a change in the
structures to end the abject poverty and destitution of refused asylum
seekers through the Still Human Still Here campaign. Or you could
support a local project, donate food, clothing, nappies and other
basics; or offer a stranger a bed for the night. If you are inspired by
the scriptures or excited by the example of Jesus Christ perhaps you
can think again about the call to love the stranger, to speak up for
those who have no voice, to free the oppressed and to comfort all who
mourn and be part of a movement which can offer a garden sanctuary to
those in the desert of exile.
http://stillhumanstillhere.wordpress.com/
The Sanctuary, a garden designed to
highlight the plight of asylum seekers in Britain at the BBC Gardeners'
Word Live event- by Bishop of Birmingham David Urquhart
On
first impressions Sanctuary Garden is a simple design, with a calming
pool and beautiful planting. But this garden has hidden layers and
attempts to both convey a message and challenge popular misconceptions.
It encourages visitors to reflect on how asylum seekers are treated in
the UK.
Scratch the surface and the real story unfolds. At its
heart, a tree, stripped of its bark and painted white represents the
thousands of ‘Living Ghosts’: people now living in the UK without any
support from the state, unable to work, homeless and destitute. Many
consider starving and sleeping on the streets to be preferable to
returning to the dangers from which they have fled.
Meanwhile in the public mind asylum seekers have become synonymous with benefit cheats, scroungers and parasites.
I
believe a garden is a fitting symbol with which to win hearts and
minds. Since I was a small child a garden has been for me a place of
wellbeing and peace. I enjoy the mixture of recreation and creativity
that it offers me and when I can find a spare hour I often choose to
spend it in the garden, pruning, sowing, weeding or planting.
The
Sanctuary garden is well designed with features that reflect some of
the struggles faced by asylum seekers as well as aspirations to live a
productive and fulfulled life in security. Gardens are a recurring
motif in the Bible as places of flourishing and harmony, representing a
balance between rest and relaxation with work and productivity.
The
Garden of Eden in Genesis is an archetype of this while several of the
Old Testament prophets use the garden to represent the healing or
restoration of an individual or a nation.
In Isaiah 51 the
prophet says: “For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her
waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like
the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song. “
In a climate of
misconception and prejudice can we dare to dream of offering a garden
sanctuary to people who have reached these shores and asked for refuge?
Can we begin to offer a welcome and hospitality that is generous and
not grudging, magnanimous rather than meagre. Are we prepared to offer
meaningful employment to those with skills, homes, shelter and food to
those with no access to benefits or healing, therapy and comfort to
those traumatised by violence?
For this is the kind of response
sought by the Old Testament prophets and embodied in the life of Jesus
Christ. We need to be prepared to tune out some of the scare-mongering
and listen with open minds and hearts to the stories of asylum seekers
and refugees living among us in the UK.
It is equally fitting
that this garden is being displayed days before the launch of Refugee
Week. This year the overall aim of Refugee Week is to create a better
understanding between communities by promoting positive representations
of refugees.
A new campaign, Simple Acts, has been launched
which is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to
change perceptions of refugees. These acts include reading an article
about exile, watching a film about refugees, praying for an asylum
seeker, or cooking a dish from another country.
I am promoting
this campaign in the Diocese of Birmingham because I believe simple
things done collectively can help shift our perceptions and ignite our
compassion.
We have already seen much evidence of this in
Birmingham where many dedicated people are working both to alleviate
suffering and tell the stories of asylum seekers and refugees in this
city. Sanctuary Garden, a collaboration between Robert Hughes and WRB
Churches Together, Cardiff and sponsored by Church Action on Poverty is
also a tribute to the valuable work being done by so many parishes,
groups, projects and churches who feel the injustice is intolerable and
compassion is the only possible response.
Perhaps you could join
them by taking on a Simple Act or by calling for a change in the
structures to end the abject poverty and destitution of refused asylum
seekers through the Still Human Still Here campaign. Or you could
support a local project, donate food, clothing, nappies and other
basics; or offer a stranger a bed for the night. If you are inspired by
the scriptures or excited by the example of Jesus Christ perhaps you
can think again about the call to love the stranger, to speak up for
those who have no voice, to free the oppressed and to comfort all who
mourn and be part of a movement which can offer a garden sanctuary to
those in the desert of exile.
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