Greenbelt: a safe place to call home
It’s just over a month since we packed up and headed back from Greenbelt, where this year we explored what it means to have a safe place to call home. One of our volunteers, Sarah, shared this reflection about her experience at Greenbelt and what it’s like to feel at home:
‘Often you might have been living somewhere for what seems like ages and then suddenly one day, it just feels like the place, it’s familiar and comforting and lifts you up somehow.
‘This is the third year i’ve volunteered for Christian Aid at Greenbelt and this time it definitely felt like home to me. The site comes alive with a special mix of faith, social justice, arts and activism that challenges and nourishes you, leaving you feeling invigorated.
‘It’s the kind of festival where you’ll absolutely get as much as you give. I hope the brilliant team of Christian Aid volunteers helped Greenbelt feel a little more like home for you too?’
Will we see you at Greenbelt 2017? You can book your earlybird ticket today!
Christian Aid presents…
We believe that everyone needs a safe place to call home so that they can flourish.
Home is where we raise our families, invite our friends, it’s where we can be most ourselves. Home anchors us, roots us, gives us a secure base from which to go out into the world. So if an earthquake destroys it, floods wash it away or violence forces us to flee from it, it’s more than just our four walls that are destroyed. For people living in poverty, losing their homes can mean losing everything — losing their identity and their place in the world.
We’d like you to hear three women’s stories, which we shared at Greenbelt this year. They all speak of home and the things that can make us feel safe or scared. And supporters like you have helped turn them into stories of hope.
Brought to life by the incredible work of Cecil Green Arts Bradford and our fantastic volunteers Becca, Lahna and Hannah, perhaps you saw the puppets by the Big Top, or maybe the Playhouse?
Are you sitting comfortably? Let’s begin.
Introducing Elineide…
Eleneide, 29, is a remarkable woman.
When she was a teenager, her older sister Eliane was attacked by her violent husband. Eliane barely survived.
Today, as well as being a full-time minister in her parish church in Brazil, Elineide runs a safe house for women who have been attacked by their husbands or partners. She braves the macho culture of her country, where a woman is assaulted every fifteen seconds, to care for these women and stand against sexism.
Elineide gives women who desperately need it a safe place to call home.
This is Feroza…
Feroza lives in Bangladesh, on an island in the middle of a river. Islands like these often flood, and the people who live on them are in constant danger of losing their homes.
Once, Feroza’s house was underwater for 18 days. She and her family were also very poor: most days they would only have one meal, and it was usually just rice.
But then our partner helped them build a plinth to raise their house above the level of the flood waters.
On her newly raised land, Feroza can plant crops and keep goats. She and her husband are happy, the family are no longer starving and they all have a safe place to call home.
Meet Jaylan…
Jaylan, 14, grew up in Aleppo, Syria. When the bombing and the shelling became too much, Jaylan’s parents took her and her siblings on a dangerous journey to Lebanon.
Jaylan is far from home, and isn’t sure whether she’ll ever be able to go back. It’s hard being in a new place, especially when you’re so young and have seen the kinds of things that Jaylan has seen.
But there are good people helping her — people from a centre for children caught up in conflict. They’re helping her have fun, make friends and process all of the awful things that have happened to her.
Thanks to them, Jaylan is reclaiming some of her childhood. But her family are in limbo: longing to go back home, but not daring to live in the middle of such a brutal conflict.
Life as a refugee is tough. Jaylan and her family are, like so many other people, still looking for a safe place to call home.
It’s thanks to supporters like you that we’ve been able to help Elineide give women in Brazil a sanctuary.
It’s thanks to you that we were able to help Feroza raise up her home, keeping her family safe from flooding.
Your support has made it possible for us to give young people like Jaylan a safe place to learn, play and overcome the trauma of war.
Thank you.
