What does red wool have to do with displaced people?
In Christian Aid Week we pray together in our thousands. Thousands of us who are not prepared to ignore the hungry, the thirsty and the sick. Thousands of us who believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to thrive. Thousands of us who believe in life before death.
All of us are bound together; you, me the thousands involved in Christian Aid Week and the millions of people seeking sanctuary around the world.
Last year, individually and as churches, we took red wool as a symbol of all that binds us, prayed for those forced from their home and called on the UK’s Prime Minister to stand up for those in need across the world.
What happened to all that wool?
We received thousands of postcards and petitions and boxes and boxes of wool, but how do you use red wool to show decision makers that thousands of people care people about all their sisters and brothers who’ve been displaced?
Given the swathes of postcard and email campaigns that politicians receive these days we wanted to try something a little different. We hoped that the creative use of wool, as a symbol of people’s hopes and prayers, might catch the attention of our politicians.
In December 2017, in Wales, as part of the Welsh Refugee Coalition we sang seasonal greetings to all Welsh Assembly members on the steps of the National Assembly and presented a heart made from the wool.
Our chair, Rowan Williams also wrote a Christmas letter to the Prime Minister, enclosing a hand-made tree decoration made from the wool, as a
“reminder of what binds us together, and our special responsibility to welcome the stranger and the refugee.”
Did it make any difference?
We received a positive response from Lord Bates, a minister in the Department for International Development (DfID), who stated that they are
“looking at how to shift the international community to better assess and support displaced people; ensuring responses are based on need.”
This laid the foundations for our work with DfID this year, in which your campaigning with members of the UK Parliament has helped shape the debate. Your campaigning has ensured that those displaced within their own country, unable to cross a border, are at least now part of the discussion.
The new International Development Secretary, Penny Mourdant recently stated that she will support the formation of a high-level international panel to examine the issue of internally displaced people.
While there is much more to do, this is an important step forward that we will build on with further campaigning.
What next for the red wool?
You may have already seen our photo exhibition highlighting the stories of displaced people. Alongside the photos, we’d love to exhibit something that has been created with the red wool that symbolises the many actions that have already been taken to support people seeking sanctuary.
The Action Factory, a small community arts charity in Blackburn who work with refugees are now turning the red wool into a small piece of art, intertwined with stories and messages from those displaced.
This exhibit will add a poignant symbol that many thousands of us stand alongside those displaced and are calling for our leaders to act.
What can you do?
This Christian Aid Week we’ll once again be calling for the UK Prime Minister to support displaced people, specifically by ensuring the United Nations better protects all people who’ve been displaced.
You and your church can be at the heart of this call to action.
By building a Home of Hope in your church, you can demonstrate how much you care about people like Gamara, forced to leave her home by the ongoing conflict in Iraq, and the people you’ll be hearing about in Haiti during Christian Aid Week — all displaced within their own countries and uncertain of their future.
Download your Home of Hope pack today.
