Refugee Week – what it means to us
Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
It’s a chance for us at St Margaret’s House to stand in solidarity, shine a light on individual stories and open up a dialogue to counter divisive narratives.
We’ve got three important events happening at St Margaret’s House for East London audiences to enjoy and we wanted to tell you a little more about them, including further insight into the plight of a particular refugee community we’re supporting this year: to raise awareness and provide a deeper understanding for everyone who comes through our doors.
What is Refugee Week?
“Established in the UK in 1998, Refugee Week takes place every year around World Refugee Day (20 June) and has since grown into a global movement with over 2 million participants across over 20 countries. Through an exciting programme of thousands of events, activities and media campaigns, Refugee Week brings together people from different backgrounds to connect beyond labels and foster a deeper understanding of why people are displaced and the challenges they face when seeking safety.
Refugee Week 2026 takes place from 15-21 June with the theme of Courage.
The word courage comes from the Latin cor, meaning “heart.”
For refugees around the world, courage is often a daily necessity. It is the courage to face unknown journeys, learn new languages, navigate unfamiliar systems, or simply to wake up each morning and step into an uncertain world.
At a time when some seek to divide and blame, Refugee Week 2026 calls us to come together and share the courage to welcome, to stand for what we believe in and to celebrate culture and community – to be joyful, imagine new possibilities, dream, heal and connect.
Courage isn’t always loud or bold. It can be found in simple acts: opening your door to a neighbour, trying new food, reading a book or watching a film that changes your view of the world. It can be speaking up, asking for help, sharing your story – or simply having the courage to be yourself.
Through art, stories, and community, we celebrate the courage that lives within us all – and how connection helps it grow.
By providing a platform for people who have sought sanctuary to share their experiences, perspectives and creative work on their own terms, our vision is for refugees and asylum seekers to be able to live safely within inclusive and resilient communities, where they can continue to make meaningful contributions.”
Find out more here: https://refugeeweek.org/about/
What’s on at St Margaret’s House this Refugee Week?
© Mohamed Mouloud Emhamed
Through Saharawi Eyes
From Tuesday 16th June, 8.30am-5pm, until Monday 20th July, we have a special exhibition in The Gallery Cafe: Through Saharawi Eyes – The Freedom Project. This is an intimate exhibition of photographs by young Saharawi refugees, exploring identity, resilience, and life in exile.
The Freedom Project is a participatory photography exhibition created with young Saharawi refugees living in refugee camps in south-west Algeria, offering a powerful and deeply personal insight into life in exile.
Developed in collaboration with Olive Branch Arts and delivered by award-winning photographer Emma Brown, the photographs in the exhibition were taken during intensive photography training programmes in which participants are supported in developing creative and technical skills while documenting their lives, communities, and perspectives in their own voices.
The Saharawi people have lived in these refugee camps for fifty years, following displacement from Western Sahara. Through these photographs, participants share moments of everyday life, resilience, joy, uncertainty, and hope—challenging simplified narratives of refugee experience and creating space for deeper understanding and connection.
Rather than being photographed by outsiders, participants become the authors of their own stories. Their images invite viewers to engage directly with lived experience and to reflect on themes of identity, belonging, displacement, and the enduring human capacity for creativity and resistance.
The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to encounter Western Sahara through the eyes of a new generation of Saharawi photographers and to learn more about one of the world’s longest-running yet often overlooked refugee situations.
Suitable for all audiences, The Freedom Project will resonate particularly with those interested in photography, human rights, social justice, and the power of art to foster empathy and dialogue.
We’ll have an Opening Event for the exhibition on Thursday 18th June when you’ll have a chance to see the work and hear from Emma Brown, the photographer, and a Saharawi from the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara.
(Read on at the end of this blog for a bit more insight into Western Sahara and the Saharawi refugees).
Through Saharawi Eyes – Opening Event, Thursday 18th June, 6.30-8.30pm
Free tickets here: https://www.stmargaretshouse.org.uk/events/opening-event-through-saharawi-eyes
© Salka Brahim
Anywhere but Here
Conversations about migration and asylum have dominated the news and politics for some time. This can be a polarising subject that draws divisions between family, friends and communities. It can be incredibly difficult to have nuanced, informed and balanced discussions with people we don’t agree with on this subject. It can also be hard to distinguish fact from fiction and to find a hopeful and realistic way forward.
Author Nicola Kelly has written a powerful exposé of Britain’s broken asylum system and how it fails us all: Anywhere but Here. She shows the way the system is meant to work but doesn’t. She shares the stories of the people who have experienced the system and been failed by it, for many different reasons. She gives voice to people who currently don’t have means for their stories to be told.
We’re looking forward to Nicola being at SMH to talk about the process of writing the book with you and helping us all understand the current system and what gets misunderstood in policies and soundbites.
Emily Williams reflects on the book in this review for Waterstones:
“Kelly lays out exactly the ways in which the immigration system is flawed and taps into why hatred is rife against migrants (particularly in struggling communities where they are frequently placed by the government) so a book like this that lays out not only the issues within the system but in the afterword offers suggestions to help as well as humanising individuals that are so often clumped together in an anonymous mass could not be better timed.”
Join us to hear Nicola speak and ask her your questions.
Author Talk: Anywhere but Here, Wednesday 17th June, 6.30-8.30pm
Tickets here: https://www.stmargaretshouse.org.uk/events/author-talk-anywhere-but-here
© Tfarah Abd Mulana
Queer Migrant Pride Fest
For the fourth year running we are hosting Ice & Fire Theatre Company’s Queer Migrant Pride Fest, a free day festival of wellbeing, workshops, activities, talks, screenings and performances to foster a world without borders on Sunday 21st June from 12noon into the evening.
Celebrating the overlap of Refugee Week and Pride Month, attendees can expect performances, screenings, workshops and stalls all focused on the celebration and wellbeing of queer migrants. It’s all about taking care of ourselves and each other, with workouts, self-defence classes, massages and yoga and meditation sessions. A dedicated ‘Beauty Beyond Borders’ salon offers haircuts and make-up to ensure everyone feels like their most fabulous self. There are opportunities to get creative and centre self-expression, with creative writing and crafts. On the practical side of things, there are workshops and immigration advice sessions for people who are going through the asylum and immigration systems and for people who want to know how to support friends and challenge the injustices of the hostile environment.
Queer Migrant Pride Fest, Saturday 21st June, 12noon-9pm
Info here: https://www.stmargaretshouse.org.uk/events/queer-migrant-pride-fest-26
Why we’re highlighting Western Sahara:
Western Sahara holds a special place in the heart of our Arts & Wellbeing Director, Beccy, so we’re delighted to be shining a light on the experiences of the Saharawi refugees through hosting the Through Saharawi Eyes exhibition and Opening Event discussion for this year’s Refugee Week.
Lots of people have never even heard of Western Sahara let alone the situation there. It’s a non-self-governing territory in North Africa, between Morocco and Mauritania on the Atlantic coast which has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975. Many Saharawis live in the Occupied Territories, enduring difficult circumstances on a day-to-day basis including violence, discrimination and abuse and denial of their human rights. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled into the desert to escape the war that ensued following occupation and still live in camps in South-west Algeria, surviving on humanitarian aid. A ceasefire was brokered by the UN in 1991 but the refugees have still not been able to return and fighting broke out again in 2020 when Morocco violated the terms of the ceasefire. The Saharawis are waiting for the right to determine their own future, through a referendum on their self-determination.
Beccy has visited the Occupied Territories and lived for a few months in the Refugee Camps in the Sahara. SMH was proud to host some of the children Beccy taught in the camps here at SMH last summer when they came to the UK on a cultural programme related to their studies through the charity Sandblast Arts – you may have seen this on Instagram. You may also have spotted some photos of the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara and the Saharawi Refugee Camps in our Hidden Talents exhibition in The Gallery Café last March.
We’re delighted to now be bringing you work created by Saharawis themselves to share their experiences.
We hope you can join us during Refugee Week or see the exhibition at another time that suits you.
Through Saharawi Eyes – The Freedom Project, Tuesday 16th June to Monday 20th July, 8.30am-5pm (4pm on Saturdays and Sundays)
Info here: https://www.stmargaretshouse.org.uk/events/through-saharawi-eyes-the-freedom-project
© Tumana Buzeid