Building New Friendships
26th October 2022
For the past year, a group of Hong Kong friends have been meeting at the IofC house in Norham Road, Oxford, at the invitation of Bekie Chan, a trained Creators of Peace Facilitator, and Su Riddell, Manager of the Norham Road house. All attendees are new arrivals to the UK.…
Refugees as Rebuilders™ at Thatcham Festival
20th October 2022
Thatcham is a small, lively town about sixty miles due West of London. Each year they hold a Festival at which I have been invited to make a contribution. Past years have included inspired events with friends such Imad Karam (focussing the film on Frank Buchman of which he is…
Remembering Her Majesty the Queen
4th October 2022
The end came quicker than perhaps we anticipated, despite her 96 years. It is hard to believe that the Queen is no longer with us. She has been a presence in our lives longer than most of us can remember. She had always been there. She will be remembered throughout…
Creators of Peace President's Day Lunch
10th August 2022
On Saturday 30th July, International Friendship Day, Initiatives of Change UK and Creators of Peace UK hosted a President’s Day in honour of Amina Dikedi-Ajakaiye, who has just stepped down after six years as the Creators of Peace’s International President. The day was celebrated with a hybrid event, hosting people…
Launching our First RRB Curriculum
16th July 2022
On the 16th July 2022 we launched the first full iteration of the Refugees as Re-Builders™ Programme Curriculum for training refugees. This included a detailed explanation and discussion on the Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced levels of the programme that aims to help re-settled refugees learn to be leaders and spearhead positive change…
IofC UK Summer Away Day 2022
29th June 2022
Some special memories were made on 11th June at the IofC UK Summer Away Day! Creator’s of Peace UK and the IofC Oxford team organised a guided walking tour of beautiful, sunny and historic Oxford as well as a garden party with lots of tea and cake to celebrate our…
IofC UK Celebrate World Refugee Day 2022
27th June 2022
Monday 20th June 2022 was World Refugee Day! Initiatives of Change UK’s marked the day with a collaborative discussion and workshop event with St Ethelburga’s which explored resilience and adaptation for future climate created refugees. Medical Doctor, public health academic and activist, Dr Rita Issa, shared simplicity and purposeful ways to…
How Artistic Expression is Helping Towards my Healing Process
24th June 2022
Josephine Apira tells us how she began to release by sharing her journey from Uganda to the UK as a refugee through artistic expression, and how it has helped her to communicate some of her experiences. What happened to her family 30 years ago is still happening now in Uganda and her hope is to empower other refugees to use art to tell their individual stories this World Refugee Day and beyond.
RRB Alumni Project - A Medical Centre and a School in Ba'ad, Somalia
4th May 2022
Juneydi Farah and Aideed Mohamud are two Refugees as Re-builders™ (RRB) alumni who graduated from the course in 2020. They got to know each other by participating in RRB and bonded over a shared desire to support their home country of Somalia. They have developed initiatives and fundraised to support…
Democracy Needs a Moral Backbone
7th April 2022
Many of us in Western Europe and North America have enjoyed seven or more decades of comparative peace. There have been international conflicts involving our armed forces but no direct threat to our own territory. So it has come as an enormous shock to see a ‘special military operation’ conducted…