The story so far

I PACKED THIS MYSELF is a project working with migrant workers and local communities in Cornwall, which started in 2006. The aim: to break down prejudice and increase understanding



Monday 6 December 2010

Home office and racist incidents

Am interested to see this Home Office link to racist incidents in England and Wales in 2009/10. A useful reference point.

Monday 29 November 2010

Snow cancels workshops

A bitter disappointment for all concerned (no pun intended). Camborne School has no option but to cancel tomorrow's workshop because of today's heavy snowfall, which continued until midday. Culdrose (Naval Station) is predicting more.
A real shame as we had spent a lot of time preparing for this. A date to be rescheduled for the New Year.

A blizzard and plans for tomorrow

In Cornwall having set aside a day to prepare for tomorrow's workshop at Camborne School. But woke up to thunder and lightning and a blizzard. At this rate it looks as if today's meetings (in Helston and elsewhere) will be cancelled. Unless there is a sudden thaw, not sure how I will be able to get to Camborne. Let alone all the people who are coming to work with me.
Have an email from Judith Cook, who is up county (Liskeard) i.e. about 45 miles away. No snow in sight there.

Monday 15 November 2010

Preparations for the next round of workshops

In Cornwall, making preparations for the next round of workshops. Starting in Camborne on 30 November. Interviewing potential people for the team. At long last have the chance to go to one of the Media Sub  Group meetings with Judith Cook in Truro (Judith is over-seeing the Migration Impact Fund work by various groups.)
A sunny day with a frosty start.
Making notes en route in Truro.

Sunday 24 October 2010

Workshops and next steps

Thinking about where the project is going and how it is developing... During the workshops we did earlier this year, it became clear that we were tackling a few crucial issues:
- the important role played by migrant workers in the economy. We visited schools, sometimes in the heart of agricultural areas depending on migrant labour, where students had little idea of the activity all around them.
- prejudice against the outsider - or anyone who is 'different' in close-knit communities. We heard examples of outright prejudice - 'They should go back to their own countries'. And the occasional very sad story of bullying and racism.
It's clear that in the current - dire - economy, that there are going to be changes in patterns of migrant labour. Many eastern Europeans, for example, have returned as economies at home have strengthened.
But many migrant workers remain in Cornwall. Agriculture, for example, still depends on them
So the emphasis of the workshops will turn rather more to the experience of migration and the experience of host communities. We just don't have the resources to undertake detailed surveys of local socio economic trends. But we can take fresh and challenging workshops into schools, with migrant workers, to hopefully open minds, stimulate debate and increase understanding.
But still - the first thing is to find a team!
Things are slowly coming together....

Friday 22 October 2010

Polish buns in Shepherds Bush

In London, but thinking about Cornwall as we are just pulling together a team for the next round of workshops in school. am reminded of Ewa Cimochowska, who helped with workshops earlier this year, by the Polish bakery a few doors down the street from my office in Shepherds Bush.
Very interesting how pastries can have such a strong cultural stamp.
Ewa is a fantastic cook, as anyone who sampled her cheesecake at the Workshop we held at Truro Library will know...

Job Opportunity

I PACKED THIS MYSELF: Bringing local communities and migrant workers together in Cornwall
As regular blog readers will know... We've been working in schools, youth groups and churches with funding from the Migration Impacts Fund. The aim: to build bridges and increase understanding.
We're currently looking for someone to join the team as schools workshops leader. This work will be occasional and paid by the session. It would suit anyone who cares about social justice - and is articulate, passionate, committed and adaptable. It will involve going into schools with a team of migrant workers, addressing assemblies and classrooms and leading discussions. Workshops last year proved highly successful and schools are asking for more. Could you help? Please email me (info@bridging-arts.com) or call 0794 12 52 444.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Advertising for a team

Pulling together a team and spreading the word: have emailed around today and also put an ad in the West Briton. This worked well in the spring - but we did advertise online as well then. Since, prices have shot up - so for the time being we're sticking to print. It will be interesting to see the response.

Friday 15 October 2010

Getting things started again

Autumn.
Back in Cornwall and getting things started for the next round of workshops. Back to Camborne, even:  and it is far too long since I have seen Bridging Arts volunteer and all rounder Mike Matthews.
The Tyacks Hotel  Camborne (scene of many Bridging Arts meetings), has changed its car park arrangements. Clamping is not out of the question - not good news for people who lose track of time...
Otherwise - it's clear, due to the level of interest from schools, that we'll need to start pulling together a team. Teachers have said that they are particularly interested in migrant workers helping to deliver the workshops, so we'll develop that angle. Last year's team (apart of course from Mike) has dispersed. Sadly (for us) Ewa and Waldek Cimoshowsky have gone back to Poland. And Inga from SEF is now in Luton. Vadim is back in Latvia.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

A call from Camborne en route to Ally Pally

It's the Knitting and Stitching Show set up day at Alexandra Palace, and am battling through traffic to get there (to set up a Bridging Arts display) when Julie Rowe calls from Camborne School to see whether we can stage a day of workshops there in late November. Stop by the side of the road in Muswell Hill.
She'd like a team of migrant workers to work with us, and the students, so that we reach a whole year group at once. A great idea - and what great timing. We have just got the go-ahead to proceed with the next round of workshops.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Good news on the funding

An email from Judith Cook to say that she's authorising the second tranche of Migration Impacts Funding, so we can continue the workshops in schools. Hurray.

Tuesday 21 September 2010

News from Szczecin

Autumn is almost here. So nice to hear from Ewa Cimochowska, who has returned to Poland to care for her mother who has had a stroke. She has sent some photos of the city we often discussed in workshops in schools earlier this year.































Ewa says she's busy running her mother's business. But she and her husband Waldek have been relaxing at weekends - picking mushrooms in the forest. Funnily enough I was thinking of mushrooms at the weekend when I went to Budapest and saw women from villages at the central market selling them on stalls.  I wondered where these mushrooms grew...

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Facing the East in the West

A book arrives from Germany. Have been in touch with one of its editors, Eva Ulrike Pirker, over the course of the year. Facing the East in the West is the result of a conference in the spring and Eva asked for I Packed This Myself images to show. An image of one of the first suitcases in the show is on the cover - bottom left hand corner.

It's a weighty tome - an interesting range of themes covered, from the Cold War in the Bond series (From Russia with Love) to Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

A natural break for the summer

We have finished workshops and the first part of the project. Now - a long break over the summer, while we wait to see whether our work through the Migration Impacts Fund can be extended through the autumn. Fingers crossed. But it's a difficult fiscal climate.

Friday 9 July 2010

Just launched: our new Education Pack

A key resource for schools and groups interested in working with migrant workers and local communities. To download, click here.

Friday 2 July 2010

End of an era for the daffodil fields

In west Cornwall. The daffodil fields watched all year (see earlier entries) are being ploughed and the bulbs lifted ready to be sorted. These fields have been planted with daffs for four years which is as long as you can at one stretch ... Time for a different crop.
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Friday 25 June 2010

Suitcase window display

Spotted in Oasis, Covent Garden. Suitcases in a window display... Idea first seen in Prada, Paris, last December (see earlier blog entry...)
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Monday 21 June 2010

Tying up loose ends and evaluation of first stage

I Packed This Myself schools workshops over for the summer term and we're just carrying out an evaluation of the first stage. All the feedback sheets and questionnaires that we distributed will prove useful.
We'll start advertising autumn term workshops at the start of July....

Thursday 10 June 2010

Camborne School then Ponsanooth

Today is our last day of classroom workshops this term - and we start off in Camborne, my home town. Camborne is one place where I really wanted to take this project. In the season, hundreds of workers are in the town - and off season, too, increasingly now. We'd seen and learned about the lack of connection they had with local people when we staged I Packed This Myself at DMT Galleries.
And this morning is no disappointment. This was one of the most impressive groups we have worked with this year. Lots of students had gone to the Royal Cornwall Show (it's the first day) so we had large group of those remaining - nearly 40. They were shy at first, then truly engaged with the subject.
Much of the background research on migrant workers had been done locally. They knew the places we were talking about.  Inga talked about the things that she had brought with her in her bag - her athletics record, her interest in running and rock climbing, and her dream to be a police officer or go into the army. Vadim, again, showed his Sherlock Holmes novels (in Russian) and the religious amulet given to him by his grandmother and a small plaster angel, from his girlfriend.  It was a captive audience. At the end one girl asked if Inga thought she would achieve her dreams. Inga said yes, she did. In life there are some people who will, of course, achieve their dreams because they are determined, and Inga is probably one of them. At the end others asked questions and one girl in particular (far left in the photo above) made a statement: I think you work very hard and deserve every penny you earn, she said.

We were, frankly, touched. And even more so when the student teachers asked Inga and Vadim to stay behind afterwards. They went upstairs to the staff room and googled athletics clubs that Inga might be interested in joining, and telephone numbers of places where Vadim might be able to pursue his medical career. It was an extraordinary morning.
Then off to Redruth and down the Falmouth road to Ponsanooth, for our first workshops with Primary School age children.  Kennal Vale Primary School is a small oasis of calm and concentration.  The children were a delight.  We talked about journeys and people who had made difficult transitions. I introduced Vadim (Inga had gone back to work) and asked there were questions. A forest of hands... So many questions that the hour goes by very quickly.  Children get into groups and think about things that they might take on journeys themselves, to remind them of home. They are interested to see the contents of Vadim's bag.  One girl considers taking hawthorn blossom that she picked in the playground at lunchtime.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Second day in Newquay and lively discussions

Our second day in a row at Treviglas, Newquay. Inga Riaukaité comes too. Inga was one of the four workers at SEF (Southern England Farms) who made the film, The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm, that we showed at Penair School, Truro, in March.  Pick her, and Vadim, up from SEF in Leedstown at 7am.  It's an early start for us all...
We have three classes during the morning. And lively discussions. Inga is from Lithuania. One boy asks whether if French is the language spoken in Lithuania. Another asks whether all the buildings are red - he has heard so.
All are very interested to hear about the work that Inga (a qualified industrial engineer) and Vadim (former medical student, ballroom dancing champion of Latvia and keen fisherman) are now doing on the land. Both have worked in the fields, cutting cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli etc. Inga now works in the packhouse as a supervisor.
We ask if anyone has a dream of being a doctor some day? Out of 75 children in the three classes this morning - one has this ambition. Vadim is surprised that there are not more.
Inga's dream is to be either a police officer or join the army.
She is a champion runner (having run for Vilnius). She runs every morning on the North Cliffs (near Godrevy). She is also a keen climber who's next aim is to go pot-holing. She loves clubbing - she has visited Newquay before! Her energy and enthusiasm, in fact, fill the classrooms ...
Today - as yesterday  - few students knew about the Soviet Union and its history. Some were able to point to Lithuania and Latvia on the map.
But one girl in particular, out of the blue, said this morning she was very interested in the Soviet Union and its former republics. She understood something about the pressures Vadim (as a Russian) had faced in the country after independence.
It has been interesting to see in the workshops this year how different classes have different dynamics and levels of engagement with the subject. This engagement has nothing to do with academic achievement. It all seems to depend on the students' spirit and openness to new ideas.
This morning is full of surprises. We ask students to write lists of the things that they would pack in their suitcases, if they had to leave home to create a life in another country.
Inga and Vadim have brought bags filled with things that they actually did bring here when they arrived, in search of work.
Inga shows students a mini t-shirt that her friends gave her: they knew that she had once wanted to join the army. "Inga, the army needs you!" says the slogan. She's also brought a photo of her athletic team...













And photos of herself training and rockclimbing....















Plus her graduation certificate. To remind herself of her ambition and her dreams.

Monday 7 June 2010

Journeys made to and from Newquay...



Today's workshops are in Treviglas School, Newquay. It's the first day back after Half Term - a good day to be talking about journeys. Had anyone been away on holiday?

Vadim Hothova, from Southern England Farms, is here to help. Ewa Cimochowska has had to go back to Poland, with her husband Waldek, as her mother has had a stroke. We miss her - but Vadim steps bravely into the breach.

We're working with Year 9 students, as we have done elsewhere. This is a good and interesting cohort to work with. There are links to be made with other areas of the Curriculum. The classes we worked with today were going on to learn about the former Soviet Union, and Stalingrad, in history.
In some of the classes we spoke to, students did not quite know what the Soviet Union was - or had been.
It was relevant. Vadim explained how he, a Latvian, had a Russian heritage and had experienced difficulties at University because his professor - he felt - had made things difficult for Russians.
But first, we lay the groundwork for discussions. We tell the classes how we have been working elsewhere. Everywhere, people's responses have been different. In this school, in each of the three classes we work with, there are children whose parents have moved to Cornwall from overseas. We only realise this when they fill in answers to our initial questionnaire.... Have you ever made a journey? Have you ever lived in a country where you don't speak the language?
It's a school with a strongly 60s feel. A very familiar look to the place. Palm trees included. As a quick look at photos of Helston and Penair will reveal...

But all students are different. We handed out our questionnaire at the start. And most students found the last question the toughest: What is the most difficult thing you have ever done?
The answers were quite touching. A few students said living through their parents splitting up. Or facing up to the death of a grandparent.
But a surprising number said their most difficult experience - in life so far - involved leaving friends behind, and moving to a new place to start a new life.
This, of course, is exactly what Vadim had done.
We talked about his experience. He told us how it had been. In Latvia, he had studied medicine. He had been National Junior Ballroom Dancing Champion. But things had been tough. Sometimes he had worked 22 hours a day to make ends meet. I couldn't imagine how anyone could do that. What about 'night', and sleeping?
But apparently you can do that if you have two jobs, and sleep during your breaks at both. You can sleep for 20 minutes intervals during this time - if you are used to it.
But, clearly, it was not a life-style that could be sustained for long. Vadim moved to the UK. He worked on a flower farm in Cornwall before moving to SEF, where he works now. SEF, one of the UK's largest vegetable producers, is based near Leedstown. They grow cauliflower, cabbage, courgettes and spring greens on farms all over the county.
We also talked about other workers who had moved to Cornwall from overseas. The Portuguese, for example, who live in the Bodmin area and work at local meat processing factories. We showed photography by Tom Pilston. For the first time, we have students who recognise some of the places featured - Bugle, Roche and Bodmin.  One student recognises Bugle as his uncle has a butcher's shop there.
We look at the Portuguese suitcase, filled with items that Portuguese workers brought to Cornwall when they moved here to find work. We play the usual game of trying to work out the reasons for certain items. (There are no Portuguese in the class, but people make informed guesses).
Then Vadim reveals what he brought with him when he came to the UK.  He explains: detective novels. Sherlock Holmes in Russian.
Plus - a medal. This is a medal for fishing: another area in which he excels. A Catholic icon, given to him by his grandmother and a plaster angel, given to him by his girlfriend. The angel is a good luck charm. He carries it with him, wherever he goes (even when working).
Everyone has a good luck charm, it seems.
It is pouring with rain when we drive back.
On the way home, buy some delphiniums from a stall by the side of the road. Seasons change and so do the flowers. The daffodils, naturally, are long gone.

Sunday 30 May 2010

Reminders of Cornish migration

Bank Holiday weekend in west Cornwall. Still not much sign of the sun. For the first time for ages walk around the graveyard at Crowan. In our I Packed This Myself workshops, we have often mentioned the fact that the Cornish are no strangers to migration - and all its challenges. Thousands of Cornish people left Cornwall for California, South Africa and Australia when the tin and copper mining industry collapsed in the 19th century.
It's a beautiful time of year.  But sad to think that so many of these journeys ended overseas. The mortality rate was high.
This miner died at Gold Hill, Nevada.
















And these long dead relatives of mine very far from home .  Thomas Roberts aged 40 in California and his son, aged 21, on his passage to New Granada in 1853. New Granada, where there were important silver mines, subsequently became modern day Colombia.

Saturday 29 May 2010

Saturday night meeting and Inga's birthday

A meeting at SEF (Southern England Farms), Leedstown, with Inga and Vadim who will be working with me on workshops in schools around Cornwall next week. It's the end of a long day for them both - a Saturday night. And in addition Inga's birthday! Am so pleased that they are willing and able to help. Discover, too, new things about them both. Vadim was junior dance champion of Latvia. Inga is a champion runner (representing her home town, Vilnius).
Outside it's a cold summer evening.


The local parish magazine is out and in it is news of The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm, shot by Inga and three fellow workers. Grass roots coverage. Great that this way, at least, local people will hear about the neighbours they tend to have little contact with...

Friday 28 May 2010

Making plans for workshops in Cornish schools

We'll be at Treviglas (Newquay),  then Camborne at the start of June.  Inga (who works at SEF Leedstown and made The Hidden Life of a Cornish Farm with three colleagues) and Vadims, also  from SEF, will be working with me.

Two news items about migration in The Times today. "Tensions rise as jobless migrants are blamed for the pain in Spain."  A report from Vic, an industrial town north of Barcelona, which is struggling to cope with hundreds of unemployed people. The vast majority are immigrants - Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans. At least 10,000 had been working in the town - doing the jobs that others did not want. When the Spanish ecnomic bubble burst, they faced destitution. In reaction: people are calling for immigration to be controlled. Spain's equivalent of the BNP (Platform for Catalonia) are whipping up anti-immigrant feeling about this - ignoring the fact that the economy previously depended on their input.

The second reports on Home Office figures: Record immigration surge as more than 200,000 get British passports in a year." The surge last year was 58%. It's the highest since records were first published 47 years ago. Of those receiving a British passport, more than half come from Africa and the Indian subcontinent.  One possible clause? The Times suggests a rush to apply for citizenship befre rules linking it to earnings, skills and education take effect.

Otherwise keeping an eye on recent publications about migrant workers and immigration.

Recently from the Migrants' Rights Network.... Immigration documents checks and workplace raids: a negotiators guide

They say ...

"Ever tried an immigration officer’s uniform on for size? Unless you’ve worked for the UK Border Agency itself, we would imagine probably not.
But if you’re an employer in the UK, you are supposed to have been getting pretty familiar with the business of checking immigration documents, particularly since tougher regulations on irregular working came into force in February 2008. The hike in UKBA workplace raids since then has also increased the spotlight on workers’ immigration status.
Bringing immigration enforcement into British workplaces, the Government has presented new challenges to activists, trade unions, migrants, migrant organisations and employers.
These challenges can only be met with proactive negotiation with employers to ensure that only necessary document checks are carried out, and that these are carried out consistently and fairly. This should deny any unscrupulous employer the opportunity to exploit migrant workers, to divide workers or to threaten those that stand up for their rights.”


And John Vincent's Network ebulletin, as usual, is full of news.

Migration issues – Government, Government Agencies and Local Government
 
Focusing on the perspective of migrant workers in the Eastern region (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambs, Herts, Essex and Beds.) Studying: factors that influence decisions on coming to and length of stay in the UK; barriers to full participation in the regional economy; and, barriers to social inclusion in the local community; how these change over time and whether public policy has an influential role on these decisions.”

 
Article by Tim Finch, the Head of Migration, Equalities and Citizenship at ippr.
  
New books for young people featuring migration
Gillian Cross. Where I belong (OUP, 2010), a story involving a Somali family - read a review in the Guardian by Mary Hoffman.

Thursday 20 May 2010

A misty morning in west Cornwall

A misty morning in west Cornwall for our first workshop directly with children of migrant workers and their friends. Children at Pool School have volunteered, in pairs, to attend.
We arrive first thing and work all day. Games first to break the ice. A prize for the pair building the highest tower.
People are so creative that we award a further prize for the most imaginative structure - architecturally.
Then we get to work, making cases of metaphorical journeys. Children have come from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania to the school. Ewa Cimochowska, who has been helping throughout, has come along to help
People draw pictures from their journeys to this country. We discuss problems faced - difficulties and how were best tackled.   
We've brought our map suitcases to help things along - here pictured with new cases.

One of the aims of this workshop is to come up with an Action Plan, that might be used in this school and elsewhere to help new arrivals - children who don't speak English, find it tough to make friends and experience difficulties.
All sorts of suggestions are made...
It is a very lively team.
Who have their own ideas of how to brainstorm! They draw a picture of an imaginary Greek girl, called Luella, who arrives at the school.
Then imagine her thoughts and feelings.
A good day. Lunch in the school canteen and the first time for ages I have had chocolate sponge and custard.
Later call in at SEF (Southern England Farms) Leedstown, to see the four filmmakers whose film premiered at I Packed This Myself in Truro in March. We discuss future plans.
It's a fairly chilly early summer evening - slightly damp and the trees (just) in full leaf.
Drive past daffodils fields that are now being prepared for the next crop.