This week is refugee week, which is an annual festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees.

The organisers, whose partners include the British Red Cross, Freedom from Torture and Oxfam, provide a programme of arts, culture, sport and educational events (go to www.refugeeweek.org.uk for dates and times). This enables people to understand why others are displaced, needed to find sanctuary and the challenges they face.

Bude Refugee Support Group (BRSG) formed in 2015 at the height of the Syrian war.

They are all volunteers and work hard to raise funds. People in Bude and the surrounding areas have been very supportive which enabled them to become the first group in the country to sponsor two families. Other groups have since joined the scheme for example Bideford, Launceston and Falmouth.

Mary Whibley from BRSG said: “But more groups are needed in order to give a family a meaningful future rather than languishing in a camp where there are no prospects at all.”

Community Sponsorship, a UK Government scheme, allows local volunteer groups to sponsor refugee families. The sponsoring group supports the family on their arrival and helps them to settle faster into their new lives. The group finds private accommodation, pays for translation and English language tuition, organises school registration and helps the family to access health care, open bank accounts and find employment.

Mary continued: “Both the Bude families have set up their own businesses and are increasingly independent. BRSG is there as a safety net and has become an extended family. It is a privilege and pleasure helping them. If you feel your community could sponsor a family go to Gov.UK/community sponsorship.”

Mary added: “How we treat refugees reflects who we are. Hopefully we should try to help those who have been forced from their homes and have lost friends and family. Sadly, all too often, we hear that people fleeing war, persecution and violence are treated with hostility. During this refugee week try to imagine yourself in their situation and please just be kind.”