Greetings from inducted honorary Obanites
published this on 9:30 pm, Tuesday, 22nd December, 2009Charities| News | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
A group of volunteers from Oban and a group of refugees and asylum seekers from no fewer than ten different countries are exchanging greetings for 2010.
This celebrates their late Autumn meeting in Oban this year when the visitors felt that Oban folk had really ‘opened their hearts to us’ in their kindness and hospitality.
The group from Glasgow was organised by Rema Sherifi, herself one of the Kosovans evacuated from refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania in 1999 after the unthinkable atrocities carried out at that time.
Since coming to Glasgow, Rema and her family have begun a new life there becoming involved with voluntary organisations and community groups.
Rema has just been nominated for The Scottish Woman of The Year Award. Working at the Maryhill Integration Network in Glasgow since 2004, she has worked constantly for a huge number of people from all sorts of different countries.
The 25 visitors to Oban – 5 of whom were under 5 - came from: Eritrea, Columbia, Azerbaijan, Palestine, Kosova, Sudan, Iran, Syria, Algeria and Cameroon.
The arrangements for the visit were co-ordinated by Oban couple, Graeme and Heather Pagan and the costs involved were met by generous donations from 26 people in the Oban area.
The visit was also enriched by the experiences generously given by Piazza, Light of India, MacBraynes, Tescos, Atlantis Leisure and the Sea Life Centre.
The visitors enjoyed trips to Mull and Lismore as well as boat trips to view some seals. The Sea Life Centre visit was also much appreciated and one of the highlights of the weekend was the ceilidh in the St John’s Church Hall. This brought together a number of different cultures including dance, song and poetry.
The guests arrived at the Oban Youth Hostel to a reception from young Oban pipers, twins Andrew and Cammy Scott, who also contributed to the ceilidh later on that evening. Catherine Carsewell and her friends created a welcoming lunch at the Free Church Hall and another group of volunteers made lunch on the Sunday at the St. John’s Church Hall.
Graeme Pagan says: ‘After what some of our visitors have been through, it was humbling to meet them here where most of us have so much; and to share with them the beauties of this wonderful place which, shame to say, we sometimes take for granted’.
It is very much to the credit of the Oban group that they reached out in this way to those who are homeless in the most profound way – and not only at this time of the year. There is a time for each of us when we need someone to hold out a hand, to let us in. Oban now has an extended set of honorary residents.
Related Posts
The Latest News from ForArgyll delivered via email, weekly or daily. You know it makes sense!
Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping | | Print This Post
Loading...
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 am
woohoo! im on the internet!
=]
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:18 am
i was glad to do this for you all…..my brother is to! and my mum of course.if you ever decide to do this again. feel free to contact me my brother or my mum.