Top musicians come together for Help Refugees benefit gig
- Text by Alex King
As temperatures drop this winter, conditions for thousands of refugees sleeping on streets or in makeshift camps across Europe will become even tougher. Despite months of media coverage and popular pressure, governments and major aid institutions’ response to the biggest refugee crisis since WWII has been found wanting.
“How is it that UNHCR and other refugee charities can be failing their clients, the refugees, so abysmally?” asks comedian and activist Heydon Prowse, who’s now working with Help Refugees. “If this was a business, heads would roll.”
Grassroots groups across the continent, such as Help Refugees from the UK, have stepped in to pick up the pieces where official institutions have failed. They’ve organised search and rescue operations in Lesbos, shelter building for families in Calais, food distributions in Serbia and more.
“In these places you get the feeling that you could hand someone some water and it would last them across the border or give them some shoes, which would perhaps last them until the muddy fields of Hungary,” Heydon explains. “But the welcome people receive from volunteers would be of some small comfort the entire way across Europe until they found their new homes.”
To raise funds to continue their vital work, Help Refugees are holding a benefit gig on Sunday November 22 at O2 Forum in Kentish Town. Head down to show your support and catch Paloma Faith, Peace, refugee musicians The Stone Flowers and a secret band.
Find out more on the Facebook event or buy tickets here.
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