[cma-l] Norwich Refugees tell their stories on radio

[Tom Buckham]

Taken from the Norwich Evening News and Eastern Daily Press last week:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norwich refugees tell their stories on radio

MARY HAMILTON<mailto:mary.hamilton at archant.co.uk>

19 March 2010

Iraqi and Congolese refugees living in Norwich are learning to tell their stories and boost their skills with the help of a community radio station.

Six men from the International Men's Project have been training for four weeks at Future Radio, discovering how to use the station's audio equipment and studio space to create their own broadcasts.

And when their course finishes they will be broadcasting a series of monthly radio programmes telling the stories of their struggles and bringing information and advice to other Norwich refugees.

Ali Al-tameemi, 31, said: "We would like to tell our stories and to introduce ourselves to other people.

"We would like to interview people from organisations that give us social support, and talk about how we can get in touch with them.

"There are about 70 Iraqi refugees in Norwich now and many people do not know about us - they think we are Portuguese or from other places. We want to make our voices heard."

Ahmed Husson, 29, who lives in Golding Place in Norwich, said: "For us it is about telling our stories and finding some solutions to our problems.

"We left large families in Iraq and now we live alone in our flats. We come from different cultures. But perhaps we can try and find different solutions to these problems."

Rafid Al-maliki, who lives on Mousehold Street in Norwich, was a journalist in Basra before coming to the UK.

The 35-year-old said he found Norwich "a nice but quiet city", adding: "It's hard to find a job here.

"This workshop helps us improve our skills and we can put it on our CVs. We can use this to help ourselves and to help other people."

The three men, who all came to this country as refugees after working with British troops in Basra, hoped the training and their radio shows would help to bring the community of Iraqi refugees in Norwich together and help them integrate with the rest of the city.

Mr Al-tameemi, who lives on Thorpe Road, Norwich, added: "We want to give the favour back."

Future Radios volunteer coordinator Simone Hayes, who has been working with the men for the last month, said: "As a community station we aim to give voices to communities that do not necessarily normally have a voice.

"We try to help people develop skills that will help them get volunteer placements or work afterwards, and we try to give people the opportunities to make themselves be heard."

Station manager Tom Buckham said: "I think projects like this are highly important if not essential to be included in Norwich's City of Culture bid.

"Culture means many different things - you have high culture such as the cathedral but you also have an emerging multiculturalism in Norwich that not many people outside the city tend to be aware of.

"For those people who work more closely with community groups it's clear that all these things contribute towards Norwich being a culturally rich city."

How to Back the Bid

Send your ideas or volunteer to contribute by emailing cityofculture at norwich.gov.uk.

Tell us about events, projects or groups you're involved with by calling 01603 772418 or emailing mary.hamilton at archant.co.uk.

Tell us why you're backing the bid by emailing mary.hamilton at archant.co.uk or calling 01603 772418.

Show your support and let us know about events happening where you are by joining the Norwich 2013 Facebook group at www.tinyurl.com/Norwich-2013.

Follow the Evening News Back the Bid campaign on Twitter at www.twitter.com/norwichculture.

Read more about the City of Culture bid at www.en24.co.uk/culture.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom Buckham
Station Manager, Future Radio
01603 455250
Future is a social inclusion project that uses the arts and media to engage, inspire and train young people and adults in Norwich and Norfolk
Fax; (01603) 508096
Future, 168b Motum Rd, Norwich, Norfolk, NR5 8EG.
Registered charity number 113200
http://www.futureprojects.org.uk/
http://www.futureradio.co.uk/
Before printing, think about the environment
P It takes 24 trees to produce 1 ton of office paper!
Please note that Internet email is not a fully secure method of communication. You should be aware of this lack of security when emailing us.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.commedia.org.uk/pipermail/cma-l/attachments/20100324/ce9e7808/attachment.html>