Visitors, staff and volunteers at our InterAction Drop-in got creative this week – crafting orange heart-shaped paper planes and flying them from the gallery in CastleGate’s historic Turbine Hall.
Action Foundation is a proud member of Together With Refugees, a coalition of organisations that believe in a more compassionate approach to people seeking sanctuary.
Their campaign, Fill the Skies with Hope, which runs until November 9, is about highlighting to the new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and the new Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, people’s opposition to the Government’s cruel policy which will banish refugees to Rwanda.
People around the country are being encouraged to convey their messages on heart-shaped planes and deliver them to local MPs to pass on to the Government.
Refugees and asylum seekers at our Drop-in were keen to have their voice heard yesterday.
One person wrote:
‘I’m refugee. Stop Flights to Rwanda’
Another visitor, who is still waiting for his asylum claim to be processed after five years in the UK, used his plane to express frustration at the long delays enforced on people by the Home Office.
After the origami session, a group were given access to the gallery of the Turbine Hall, which used to be used by workers in what was Newcastle’s tram generating station to check the turbines that powered Newcastle’s trolley buses. InterAction volunteers, Kasra and Amir, took this video of the soaring planes.
Let’s hope our planes go on to generate a change of policy by our Government. Action Foundation plans to deliver the paper planes to MPs in November.
Find out more about how our InterAction Drop-in helps refugees
