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Sanctuary Cafés, Refugee Week and other events
We regularly hold community engagement, sporting and arts activities to raise awareness about people’s lived experiences of sanctuary seeking, fundraise for local refugee organisations, and welcome sanctuary seekers on campus.
Refugee Week (14-20 June 2021) is an annual festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. The theme of the 2021 festival is We Cannot Walk Alone.
Sky and Ground Online Film Screening and Q&A Panel – Thursday 17 June, 19–21.45pm
Join Reading Refugee Support Group for an online screening of the critically acclaimed documentary Sky and Ground, telling the story of a Syrian family’s 3,000 mile journey to find sanctuary.
The film will be followed by a Q&A Panel with special guests including Lord Alf Dubs, Professor Ruth Evans, Zainab Koroma and Waheeda Soomro discussing the topics raised in the film.
Presented in partnership with Reading Film Theatre and Deloitte Reading.
Find out more about Refugee Week events and book your tickets.
Careful Listening – Friday 18 June
RRSG presents Careful Listening, an art project where refugees and asylum seekers listened to immersive sounds and discussed social issues that the sounds inspired them to raise.
Presented in partnership with University of Reading and Ultra-red.
Reading Community Cup – Sunday 20 June
World Refugee Day Football Tournament
To mark International Refugee Day, we’re launching the inaugural Reading Community Cup!
Bringing together Berkshire’s only refugee football team, Sanctuary Strikers FC, along with teams from University of Reading, Thames Valley Police and Reading West, the competition aims to promote unity and integration through the international language of football.
Time: 10:00am–15:00pm
Teams: Giving Back United (UoR), Reading West, Sanctuary Strikers FC, Thames Valley Police
The Reading Community Cup is created in partnership with Reading FC Community Trust, University of Reading, Reading City of Sanctuary and Reading Refugee Support Group
Sanctuary Café Walk ‘n’ Talk group
Unfortunately our first event planned for June 2021 has been postponed due to on-going COVID restrictions and will be rescheduled in the coming months when possible.
Refugees are welcome on campus! We are excited to launch our first Sanctuary Café Walk ‘n’ Talk Group for local sanctuary seekers, staff and students to meet informally on campus:
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this will be a Walk ‘n’ Talk group in campus spaces outdoors.
We will be exploring walking routes on campus, using the Wellbeing Map of Whiteknights Campus produced by Reading Students' Union. Sanctuary seekers’ hot drinks and transport costs will be met.
Places are limited, but we plan to run monthly Sanctuary Café meet-ups on campus from September 2021.
For more information, please contact:
Ruth Evans, r.evans@reading.ac.uk
For the full programme of Refugee Week 2021 events in Reading, please see the RRSG website.
We are delighted to support the Reading City of Sanctuary Coffee Bank initiative in cafés on campus. Instead of ordering your usual cappuccino, buy two drinks and leave one in the bank to support local sanctuary seekers and Reading City of Sanctuary!
Maggie Filipova-Rivers, Reading City of Sanctuary Manager, said:
“We are thrilled to see yet another brilliant initiative to be launched by the University of Reading, an initiative which will facilitate contact among members of our diverse community and ultimately foster an environment of understanding and welcome for people fleeing war and persecution. Thank you to all for the hard work getting this set up in the most unprecedented of circumstances”.
How does it work?
When you buy an extra Sanctuary coffee (£2 Students; £2.40 Non-Student) in cafes on campus, we bank the credit for sanctuary seekers. As a member of the supporting charities, local sanctuary seekers can visit the cafe, receive a hot drink from the bank and participate in the same café culture we can all enjoy and benefit from at the University.
Participating cafes at Whiteknights campus currently include: Dol.che Vita, Library Café and Enterprise Café. Information about the venues’ opening hours can be found on our hospitality website.
Sanctuary cafes on campus are part of a network of Sanctuary Cafes in Reading, including Monty’s, Addington Road; Global Café, RISC; Pavilion; the Shed; South Reading Community Hub.
See also the map of Sanctuary Cafes in Reading we have developed. We work in partnership with Reading City of Sanctuary, Reading Refugees Support Group, Reading Community Learning Centre and Red Cross on implementing the coffee bank.
Why does it matter?
Sanctuary seekers (refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants) are particularly vulnerable to isolation and loneliness. Having the opportunity to access a free coffee provides an incentive and an opportunity for sanctuary seekers to engage with staff and students, to visit campus and feel welcome as part of the University community. This is part of the University of Reading’s wider commitment to Reading City of Sanctuary and the national City of Sanctuary initiative.
Find out more
For more information about the Reading City of Sanctuary Coffee Bank, please contact: Maggie Filippova-Rivers, Manager, Reading City of Sanctuary.
Email: info@reading.cityofsanctuary.org
Read about the launch of the coffee bank initiative on campus.
Contact: Ruth Evans, email: r.evans@reading.ac.uk or Federico Faloppa, email: f.faloppa@reading.ac.uk.
Read more about Refugee Week on the#DiversityReading blog.
Read more about the University of Reading’s City of Sanctuary activities.
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