Sweet meet

Our group, Welcoming Syrian Families, took a stall at the What's In It For You? fair at the Town Hall today to introduce our aims to the wider community. It was an opportunity for local charities and voluntary organisations to show off what they do. To assist with the PR exercise I made this Arabic semolina cake, popular all over the Middle East under different names: harissi  in Syria, nammoura in Lebanon, basbousa in Palestine and so on. The recipe called for a huge amount of syrup to be poured over it - I only used half.  However the Syrian doctor/asylum seeker who came up from Swansea to do some meeting and greeting (see extra) straightway told me it wasn't nearly syrupy enough. Nevertheless it proved a good talking point when I offered it around the hall and seized the chance, while mouths were filled, to bend the ears of as many people as I could. We are still a long way from achieving what we hope to do (settling and supporting a few refugee families in the community) but so far the  reactions were  positive and some people were interested in getting involved in the scheme.

Although this was an encouraging occasion for us,  reports of vicious, mindless xenophobic abuse all around the country have been increasing following the Brexit vote. We can't assume that anywhere is immune to the racist attitudes stirred up by the Leave campaign and press.