Beyond Borders

Beyond Borders explores how creativity can encourage debate about asylum with local and refugee families by drawing parallels between the movement of the earth and the movement of man. Using the shoreline, the unique language of clay and a multidisciplinary cast of creative thinkers -­‐ from musicians / storytellers / illustrators / poets / geologists and representatives from the refugee council -­‐ come together to inform and inspire!

123 people arrived at 12.30 on Saturday 1st October, Bangladeshi, Iranian, Syrian, Kurdish, Somali, African refugees together with Polish, Italian immigrants and huge support from local families from Cardiff . Such a beautifully humanitarian day that the storyteller / facilitator from the day: Eric Ngalle Charles wrote a poem about it:

As we waited across the pier, As we walked along historical landscape, As we picked stones and pebbles upon the shores of Penarth, We became stars, Kathryn, Natasha, Bevin, Students of ceramics, dancing with clay, voyaging, Crossing seas, climbing mountains, With Claire we moved in groups like swallows, unison, foot and hand prints made, Swept into the sea of Penarth, And in verses, Mothers, fathers, children,

We formed a chorus, Singing songs in foreign tongues, from Kurdistan, Zimbabwe, Cameroon and our host, Cardydd, Our voices Stopped the waves, Children picking rocks, fossil hunting, Untangling human borders, Yes, "Beyond Borders", there were no thieves of a revolution , No lamentations from a refugee voyage, We looked at the horizon, there was a rainbow, "A fools gold" she proclaimed, Bevin Magama, of mothers affinity to a docile cat, he spoke,

Children laughed, I laughed, I sang a prodigal song to my mother, remembering that umbilical cord, stretching, Penarth, a hub, handshake Beyond Borders, A melting pot, Healing, sealing wounds, creative therapy abound, Yes, as we crisscrossed Penarth pier, blessed, buried deep in flower beds of memory, the duality of rain and sunshine, Unperturbed A chain of colourful flowers, Moving in Unison.

Eric Ngalle Charles: Author of Asylum