During World Refugee Week, (18th – 22nd of June) Bell House were kind enough to partner with My Start and host an exhibition for SSLP schools and teachers as well as hold a private evening view on World Refugee Day, 20th June. This included, but was not limited to Dulwich College, Dulwich Prep, JAGS, Kingsdale School, Charter School, the head teachers of all SSLP schools, the SSLP Arts Hub and other special guests, including UK recording artist Afrikan Boy.
The exhibition displayed art and films created by young refugees living in Kakuma, the world’s 2nd largest camp and home to nearly 1/4 of a million displaced people fleeing conflict from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and The Democratic Republic of Congo. The work shared precious stories from the camp and showcased the incredible creative talent of the young people trapped living there. It acted as a connector between this remote and inhospitable part of the world and hundreds of students who visited the exhibition and took part in the workshops at Bell House over the course of the week; engaging them on the pressing issues of war, climate change and displacement.
‘I am thankful and inspired from my experience with My Start and the speech I gave at Bell House. I know that helping the refugees in Kakuma is more than a great cause and I am extremely excited to help and inspire not only the refugees, but other pupils here at Dulwich.’
Khan Amjad – Dulwich College
The exhibition also helped raise funds for My Start and connected us to an expanding educational network, which we will be working with over the next academic year with accompanying assemblies and workshops. In hosting our exhibition, Bell House has helped in this process; providing a rounded and contextualized perspective of the refugees presented in the art work, as well as the opportunity for UK students to learn, listen and produce response work to be taken and exhibited back in Kakuma this coming August.
We are extremely grateful to Bell House for hosting our exhibition and providing this important educational opportunity to schools in the Southwark learning network.
