NIACE celebrates Refugee Week Monday, June 20, 2011 - 15:38

As part of Refugee Week last week, this year celebrated on the 60th Anniversary of the Refugee Convention, NIACE highlighted the stories of refugees and the contribution they have made to this country through, or because of, the learning they have done as adults.

One of this year's Adult Learners' Week award winners is Paywand Shwan, aged 33, from Birmingham. Paywand arrived in the UK in 1999 as a political refugee from his native Kurdistan in Iraq, speaking little English.

Since then, learning has transformed his life and has enabled him to help other refugees and asylum seekers.

As a child, Paywand lost his father and witnessed many other relatives being killed. He was injured in a chemical weapon attack and in his teens he endured imprisonment and torture.

On arriving in Britain, his English was extremely limited, but he was determined to improve it. He studied English for Speakers of Other Languages and gained NVQ Level 2 and 3 in Business Administration. Paywand went on to take a Foundation Degree in Management and Leadership, while also working with refugees and asylum seekers as a volunteer with Birmingham City Council. 

He is now a senior officer with the charity Trident Reach, and is a board member of the Birmingham Kurdish Association and a trustee of the Red Sun Organisation.

Paywand said:

"Since being given political refugee status within the UK, I have started to realise my dream of helping others and furthering my knowledge and skills. This has been a challenge, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed."

The Burmese and Karen Community Reporters were part of a Transformation Fund project. They are a group of adults from the Burmese and Karen refugee community in Sheffield who attended sessions to learn journalistic and community reporting skills. This has allowed them to share their own experiences of Burma with the wider world.

Learning journalism skills is particularly empowering for the group, as it is widely banned in Burma, meaning information about the country is limited to outsiders.

The group has learned ICT skills in editing and audio and visual recording, and members have recorded their experiences of living in exile in the Burmese jungle, living in refugee camps in Thailand, the Burmese military and their move to a new country.

By recording their stories, the group members feel they are maintaining their cultural heritage whilst adjusting to life in the UK. The group showcased some of its video and audio files at an exhibition in Sheffield in March 2010.