It was a bumper crop this year for Harvest Festival, thanks to our wonderful Habs community. Here we reproduce the speech from Harvest Assembly given by our Charity Prefects, Ella Mudhar and Lauren Amdor. You can also watch a video of our spectacular Harvest Trolleys – but which was was the best? You’ll have to wait a bit to find out….
Good morning everyone. My name is Ella and this is Lauren and we are your charity prefects for this academic year.
We are both so excited to lead our charity initiatives, starting with Harvest Festival today. As you can see behind us, our community has collated an amazing array of harvest gifts that will all be taken to the Islington Migrant Centre.
As you can also see the Lower 6 reps have been really busy on the shopping trolleys and during tomorrow’s House Meeting you will be able to take a close up look at their amazing creations and you will get to vote on your favourite.
We have been working with the Islington Migrant centre for many years now, and we have both had the privilege of learning about what the centre stands for and listening to personal stories of those who the centre has helped.
Undeniably this time has been very challenging for all of us. We are so lucky to be in a position where lockdown was about reading a new book or finding time for trying new hobbies rather than worrying about where our next meal was coming from or wondering how to cope with isolation.
We were able to help the centre in other ways through the amazing work of ten of our Upper Sixth Students.
Every day during the Summer term they led Zoom English Lessons for the clients of the centre. This went on through the holidays and became the focus of the day for many of the clients, and a time for them to learn English but also to catch up with friends they would normally see at the centre.
You will be pleased to hear that after half term we will be resuming this activity with a number of our Lower sixth students as well as starting LIVE English lessons, via Zoom, for our younger friends at Parikrma in Bangalore. Once lockdown is eased we are also planning a number of Saturday IT and English Sessions here at school and we would like you to be involved in this new venture.
Unfortunately we were unable to host the Big Day Out last year, due to COVID. This event welcomes refugees and migrants from the centre to Habs for a day filled with a range of exciting activities. We know this event was greatly valued by the migrants at the centre and students alike. We can only hope we are able to go ahead with this event this academic year.
We have been in contact with the centre and Lauren and I had our eyes opened to the true impact COVID had on these migrants. There was stress about whether their job would be secure after lockdown but there was also a growing difficulty in access to hygiene products.
The centre typically has a role of providing support and community for those struggling to find their feet in a new country. There are many classes accessible to refugees and migrants to help develop English skills for jobs and focus on improving IT, writing, music, art and any other skills that would be useful for employment. Not only are these skills very applicable, but the centre helps facilitate the healing process that many go through after leaving their respective countries.
This work is extremely admirable since the centre incorporates a sense of fun into the education they provide. Through cooperating with many museums and galleries, trips are organised to help enrich the lives of these refugees. This provides opportunities to engage with art and explore educational works that are then used as inspiration for their own projects back at the centre.
Luckily, the months of lonely isolation are over but this does not mean the refugees and migrants aren’t still struggling. They have lacked contact from family and friends as well as their support systems that help them cope in an unfamiliar country. Thankfully, the centre has been reopened but only to a limited number of people who can go there one day a week, in order to reintroduce human contact and support to the refugees and migrants that they have been so desperately missing.
This leads us onto how we can help as a community. As the weeks go by, the needs of the migrants and refugees will not diminish, which is why this harvest is one of the most important ones yet.
We just want to reiterate how thankful we are to everyone for bringing in donations, especially hygiene products which are so valuable right now. Items that have just been lying around at home can now be used by someone who truly needs them and we know the centre will appreciate these massively. We are dropping them off tomorrow so there is still time to bring in more.
Thank you for listening and have a great day.
Grateful thanks must go to Hearn’s Coaches who generously donated the transportation of everything to the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants for distribution to their clients.
