Cullen

 Could not make it to the big anti-racism demo in Glasgow, so went to a coffee morning a friends  daughter had organised with pals at school as a fundraiser for  Moray Supports Refugees. Nice company, nice cup of coffee and a good cause. They managed to collect over £800.  Some of the people at the event have been working with Syrian refugees. I to have spent the last few months preparing and over the last month working very closely with families who have come out of refugee camps in Turkey Jordan and Lebanon. It's been  an intense experience and I feel very privileged to have met and worked with these Syrian families. I feel very angry when I hear the poisoned rhetoric of the media when they try to scare  people by demonising these people trying to escape war and terrorism. Does anyone know what it is to abandon everything you love, everything you know, give up a home, belongings career, family, pension neighbours security, language and culture for the unknown?
Can we grasp what it's like to  arrive in a new and strange culture in a  colder place, to be dependent on the charity of others far from family and your place of birth , to have no idea if you will  ever work again or learn a new language or if you will be welcomed or abused?
These people are just that people ordinary human beings, they are you and me.  If anything similar  should ever happen to me and my family I hope I have the resilience and generosity of spirit these people have to survive. 
I found it difficult to find a picture that expressed my  thoughts today  so I took a picture of the place I  sat and tried to put my emotions and reflections together after such an intense  challenging  and life enhancing  experience.