Project Background
Moving Lives – a digital storytelling project with young refugees in East London
Project Manager- Liz Orton
Partner- Trinity Community Centre
Moving Lives is a photography and digital-storytelling project giving a voice to young refugees living in East London and helping them integrate into the UK.
The project, run in partnership with Trinity Community Centre in East Ham, brings together newly-arrived refugees with young people who have lived and grown up in East London all their lives.
There have been five workshops throughout 2005, for 32 young people, between 12 and 17 years old - from Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Iran, India, Lithuania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, United Kingdom, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
Twenty five of the participants are young refugees, most of them newly-arrived in the UK and nearly all separated form their parents and family. As young teenagers, they are already at a vulnerable time in their lives.
Many young refugees find the social isolation one of the hardest aspects of life to cope with when arriving in the UK, and one of the greatest challenges to integrating into UK society. Young unaccompanied refugees, in particular, can experience extreme isolation living alone or with people they do not know.
Moving Lives helps young refugees make the transition to life in the UK by building confidence in their voices, and providing a means for them to speak out about their hopes, fears, experiences and ambitions. The workshops help overcome barriers, and build lasting friendships. The young people also learn some of the latest digital media technologies.
Through the stories we get a glimpse into the lives of young refugees living in London. The stories take us behind the headlines, where refugees are so often portrayed as statistics, victims and scroungers. Through Moving Lives, young people represent themselves as they want to be seen and heard: as individuals with hopes, histories, ideas and dreams.
Their stories reflect some the concerns and interests of young teenagers around the world: they are about growing up, music, ambitions, hair styles, families, football, education, mobile phones, journeys, UFOs, and creating new lives in the UK. What shines through in all of the digital stories is the positive spirit of the young people, and their sense of determination to succeed in spite of the circumstances.
Moving Lives is funded by the City Parochial Foundation, Lloyds TSB, the Jack Petchey Foundation, Awards for All, and Microsoft Community Learning Awards.