Urgent Support For Refugees In Detention and Their Families

Product Description

Australia

Negativity Cannot Easily Exist When There Is Creativity. We Encourage Creativity.

Asylum Art supports refugees held in detention through art therapy practices and creative programs so they can be mindful, busy, creative and hopeful during the long days of detention. Some of these refugees have been in detention for ten or twelve long years due to the inhumane policies of successive governments.

Asylum Art supplies art materials, encouragement and regular exhibitions of the completed refugee art on Facebook and often in galleries and markets stalls. Through sharing and selling the art, the refugees held in detention can feel supported, encouraged, appreciated and cared for. They can feel motivated to create more and develop a regular daily practice helping them to replace depression and struggle with hope and energy and creativity. Some have opened art classes in the detention centres as they reach out to support each other and work as caring teams to help each other survive what could be days of despair.The negativity of detention cannot compete with the healing and hope of creativity. Asylum Art supports life and art and healing as the refugees look forward to finally being free in an accepting new country.

The healing creative arts programs have expanded into a range of support and skills programs. Asylum Art, through Fundraising, financially supports the purchase of art materials, the packing and posting of completed art works, the setting up of art stalls and gallery exhibitions. Our fundraising also helps to pay for medical needs, material needs such as clothing and recently we have expanded the financial support to include skills training programs, such as barber skills and Graphic design to build more meaning into daily lives in detention and to ensure employment is possible when refugees arrive in free new countries.

To ensure these wonderfully resilient refugees can emerge from detention into fully free lives, Asylum Art is very involved in the time consuming and difficult fundraising for sponsorship. There is an army of dedicated and amazingly generous activists and who enjoy the beautiful creativity of these refugee artists, comment and encourgae them on our Facebook posts AND generously, generously donate and support our sponsorship fundraising drives which has seen several refugee individuals be freed from detention and begin free full lives in Canada or Australia. This would never be possible without our generous .

All of these programs are working extremely well and we have a very large number of detained refugee artists participating and benefitting in many ways. A look at the beautiful refugee art shared most days on Facebook will show the talent, positivity, skill and human growth that has occurred over the years Asylum Art has been active.

Asylum Art fundraising has expanded yet again in recent years as the turmoil and danger in the home countries has become a serious source of stress and angst for these refugees already dealing with detention. The refugees we support fear for the lives of their family members trapped under hostile regimes and under ruthless governments. Many of their family members still caught in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Malaysia live in constant fear of Taliban rule or other repressive governments. Asylum Art raises and secretly sends funds to these families hiding and surviving under awful conditions. We pay for visas and passports to allow these loved family members to escape danger and travel to nearby countries where they must wait and survive unable to work or or even move freely. Asylum Art raises and sends these life saving funds to refugee families strugging in extreme danger. It is vital that families are as safe as possible in the home countries if the refugees we support are to find any peace or rest and so they can breathe, create and build their lives waiting for sponsorship and freedom.

Asylum Art also financially supports refugges who are newly arrived in free countries often providing a payment to help with the airport costs on the day of travel to a new free country as well as paying for luggage to travel with and usually a pair of shoes, or work boots, to help with employment and necessary clothes.

These costs are continual and ongoing !

Can you help Asylum Art with their ongoing costs to support refugees in detention, their families in unsafe countries and refugees making a new start in a new land ?

The sponsorships will continue. Minimum $20,000

The medical needs continue. Any private urgent medical need costs enormously.

The art supplies still cost. Art therapy is the basis of our healing, supportive work.

Training and Skills programs really help to fill the endless days of detention AND provide the employment skills needed to begin in a new land. Costing about $700. Barber is training undertaken while in detention in quite secret plans we have made.

The galleries require expensive fees. We hope to host an exhibition THIS year.

Market stalls have site fees and the costs of printing products to stock the stalls.

Settlement in a new country will always require funds for surprise fees and luggage.

Families hiding in unsafe countries have huge passport and visa renewal costs.

Visas must often be renewed every three months at huge cost. These families need funds for food and living costs.

Any and all financial support is so welcome and so needed.

Thanks to all of the loyal and generous Asylum Art who work with us in changing lives and defying the inhumane treatment so often faced by the worls most needy and vulnerable refugeees.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE LASTING CHANGE FOR SO MANY REFUGEE PEOPLE.

$5,000 is just the beginning of the toral required for our important work. Please help us by offering whateer you can. It all adds up. It is all so vital for creating change.

Lauren Honcope