Fáilte Refugees Marta

Correia

Our year: - This year we held 34 events, including collaborations. We collaborated with 29 UCC Societies, 24 organisations (local, national and international), with the Student Union, and departments in UCC (UCC Sanctuary Group, EDI Unit, International Students Office, Mature Student Support, Peer Support, Skills Centre, and others!).

Our proudest achievements:

- The ‘All Together Project’ with the Glusksman, where we collaborated with children from Direct Provision and local artists, was a fantastic project which brought to life a beautiful mural which has been placed outside the Hub We are incredibly proud of this project and for giving these young people the opportunity to learn more about UCC, and to feel welcomed and involved in the community.

- Our Annual Conference was a highlight for us because it was a very unique Conference. It was community-led and based, with various types of speakers and performers. Another event that truly reflected our values was the Cultural Festival, where we had the opportunity to exhibit in the Hub atrium, for 3 hours, the rich diversity of the migrant community in Cork We had several UCC cultural societies, various migrant-owned businesses, NGOs, volunteering organisations, community groups involved. It was an incredible experience to be part of.

- We promoted volunteering even more this year, through different events and by direct contact with students, which resulted in higher numbers of volunteers working with us this year.

- We won 4 awards this year - best event and best political event for our Annual Refugee Week Conference ‘ Cultural Healing’; Best mental health event for our event ‘Impact of Racism on Mental Health’; Best collaboration for our event ‘Cultural Festival’, which got together several societies, local migrant businesses and organisations. We were also nominated for other initiatives which is a huge accomplishment as well.

What we loved:

- This year we participated again in the Christmas Parties for Children and Families in Cork’s Direct Provision centres, which was delightful as it was the first year we did it in person since the Pandemic. It was a very joyful project! - We loved doing the 2nd edition of our Anti Racism workshop

What we loved:

For the Future: - We would love to see Fáilte Refugees Society even more involved in volunteering and with the local community. We believe we can do even more and better!To do more anti-racism work. - We want to see more people getting involved with our society and promoting the work we do.