15 June | St. Albans, England [Vanessa Pizzuto with ADRA Europe]
In 2015, ADRA Europe initiated the ‘World Refugee Sabbath,’ held every year on the nearest Sabbath (Saturday) to the United Nations’ ‘World Refugee Day’. It is an international day designated to honour refugees worldwide. This year, ‘World Refugee Sabbath’ falls on 17 June.
Reflecting on this initiative, ADRA Europe director João Martins explains that the purpose is “to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and their living conditions, often escaping from conflict or persecution, with an opportunity for us to show love and compassion, and give support to those who are on the move.” Reflecting on the current global refugee situation, Martin explains, “Over the past year it is estimated that the total number of refugees has risen from approximately 80 million to 100 million people – and much of this increase is due to the catoagory of ‘Internally displaced people’.”
While the primary aim of ‘World Refugee Sabbath’ is to promote awareness, “We have always wanted to encourage participation” Martin continued. “So this year again, our art contest was up and running with the theme, “Hear me. See me. Walk with me.”, with the aim, as ever, to encourage young people across Europe to use their use their creativity to learn, understand, and support people forced to flee their country.”
The purpose of the contest was to encourage children, youth and families to use their creative talents to share the message – that everyone deserves to be treated with practical kindness, justice, compassion, love, and to live as God intended. Divided into age catagories, with the most outstanding artwork chosen from each, paintings were judged on the basis of creativity as well as how effectively it conveys the message of kindness, hope and solidarity.
World Refugee Sabbath 2023 Video
In this special art gala programme, held specially for World Refugee Sabbath 2023, the winners are announced with some sharing a background story behind their artwork. Enjoy!
All the entries to the ADRA Europe 2023 Art Contest can be seen here.
Featured Image (by David Neal): Ukranian Refugees at the bus station in Warsaw, Poland, Spring 2022, waiting for a coach to take them westward. How did the photographer know they were asylum seekers and not ordinary travellers waiting for a coach? Answer – they had their pets with them, cats, dogs, hampsters and even a tortoise.
