EYST, the Ethnic Minorities & Youth Support Team based in Swansea in Wales in the UK, support BME people across Wales. They recently hosted a celebration to mark the end of the 5 year Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme with a zoom party inaugurated by Swansea’s Lord Mayor, Mark Child. The very first Syrian families arrived back in February 2016. Now 5 years on they are indeed happily resettled to Swansea which is also celebrating 10 years of being a City of Sanctuary.
To underscore the celebrations, they hosted an art competition, the theme of which was
‘What I have missed doing in 2020 and look forward to doing in 2021’. The competition was open to other South Wales local authorities doing Refugee Resettlement projects.
The judges were very impressed with all the entries, A very talented Swansea refugee won the first place for the 16+ years category! The winning drawing was a portrait of her brother who she was missing and looking forward to seeing again one day in person (featured).
There were many impressive pieces of art showing the skills that people bring along with them as well as their perception about Wales and the UK as a whole.