Home Sweet Home in Parliament
The Home Sweet Home exhibition was launched in Portcullis House, Parliament, in May 2011. Bridget Phillipson MP and Baroness Oona King hosted the event, with Juliet Stevenson telling a story of a woman who had fled persecution in Ethiopia to seek refuge in the UK. WAST members Marjorie Nshemere Ojule and Herlinde Lokkuke also spoke to the audience of journalists, MPs, peers and supporters from many walks of life, and Sofia Kalu joined us from WAST Manchester with her powerful singing voice.
Home Sweet Home in Parliament: photo by Aliya Mirza
Baroness Oona King said at the event: ‘I am proud of Britain on the whole, our policies are good, on the whole, but one thing we get unforgivably wrong is our treatment of asylum seekers.’
Read the coverage of the launch in Marie Claire, where the exhibition was described as “incredibly moving” .
In September 2011, the exhibition was shown in the House of Commons for a week. Among those who supported the exhibition were MPs Kate Green, Lisa Nandy, Fiona Mactaggart, Alistair Burt, and peers Alf Dubs and Janet Whitaker.
Among the MPs and peers who visited the exhibition were:
All photos by Aliya Mirza
I admire the work carried out by Women for Refugee Women. By telling the true stories of women and children in the asylum process they woke a lot of people up to the scandal of child detention.
Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse
I have been delighted to support Women for Refugee Women since its launch- I've been truly inspired by the great work this organisation does, enabling women who seek asylum to speak out - whether at the grassroots or to government ministers.
Oona King
Many refugees and asylum seekers have fled their home countries because of human rights abuses. The work of agencies like Women for Refugee Women is vital for helping people rebuild their lives and have a voice.
Trevor Phillips OBE, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Put the word refugee in front of woman and immediately prejudice and projection arise. Meet a refugee woman, hear her struggles – and her joys – and you encounter a person, like you and me, who has been more than unlucky....
....Women for Refugee Women joins the dots, restores our humanity to ourselves and enables women to fight for theirs. Please support them.
Susie Orbach, psychotherapist and author of Bodies and Fat is a Feminist Issue
