LATEST OTA NEWS: SUMMER 2007
DARTMOOR FOR ALLOn 29th May, sixteen participants from Olive Tree projects set off in a minibus on their way to a Dartmoor rendezvous. The weather had been wet and windy for several days and we feared that the trip would have to be cancelled but the day itself was dry, with blue skies and a fresh breeze. Perfect walking weather. The youngest walker was 6 years old, the oldest in his seventies. We drove up to Haytor where we met up with Orlando Rutter, education officer for Dartmoor National park authority who had kindly offered his services for the day. The group walked from Houndstor to Haytor, a hike of about 3 to 4 kilometres that took in rocky tors and woodland, a bronze age burial site, the remains of a mediaeval village and a Victorian quarry. Half way through the walk we stopped for a delicious picnic. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the city, to get some fresh air and some exercise and to explore the beauties of Dartmoor. Our thanks to Orlando Rutter and the National Park Authority Olive Tree is planning two more trips to Dartmoor this Summer.
FUNDING SUCCESS: MOSAIC 2 DUE TO START IN SEPTEMBERAfter the successes of the Mosaic project which ran a social and educational programme for families from the Turkish-Kurdish communities in Exeter, OTA has now secured further funding for the piloting of a Devon wide Mosaic project. Sevil Fertinger, the Mosaic project coordinator will be setting up a pilot BM group in Tiverton. The idea will be to give isolated individuals and families from different minority communities the opportunity to meet together on a weekly basis to make new friends, share experience and expertise and organise educational, cultural and social activities and events. While the experiences of the Tiverton group will lead the way, the project team will be busy travelling around rural Devon, establishing contacts and setting up further groups wherever a need is identified. We hope that this pilot project will help to put in place the foundations of a Devon-wide multi-cultural network, one that will provide exciting new opportunities for everyone who gets involved. Our thanks to the To find out more about the project and our plans, contact Sevil Fertinger. (see our Projects Page)
OTA IN TALKS TO LAUNCH INTER-CULTURAL AFTERSCHOOL CLUBSThe Olive Tree association has been working with different communities in Exeter for several years now and we often talk to parents about the experiences of their children in school. There are increasing numbers of children in Devon’s schools whose first language is not English and though most of them end up settling in and becoming part of the school community there are often difficulties along the way, both for pupils and their parents. We want to work with the schools in Exeter, the English as an Additional Language Service and Exeter College to set up Multi-Cultural After-School clubs. The intention is to have clubs that are open to all pupils in Exeter’s schools for whom English is a second (or third, or fourth …..) language. On club evenings the students will get a chance to socialise, to play games, to get involved in Arts and Crafts activities and to get help, if they need it, with their homework and their schoolwork. They will also have the chance to talk with advisors about any problems that they are having – if they have problems with academic work, with bullying, with racism, with anything at all, then the club will provide a place where they can get advice and guidance and support. Every few weeks we hope to offer workshops for the parents of participants. These will be opportunities for parents to find out more about a variety of topics such as the education system, local government, local services, volunteering, etc. OTA has applied for funding to pay for a part-time coordinator to get these clubs up and running. Whether we are successful with our bids or not (we should know by the end of July) we are determined to find a way to launch the first club, hopefully at St Peters school, in September 2007.
LAST MONTH EDEN, NEXT MONTH BELGIUMAt the end of April 46 participants from the Hikmat project took a daytrip to the Eden project. The day was a great success with everyone enjoying the opportunity to see this architectural wonder of the South West and to find out more about plants from around the world. Now Hikmat are looking further afield. In fact they are looking overseas and are in the process of organising a three day trip to France and Belgium at the beginning of July. Nearly 30 Hikmat regulars have already signed up for this bargain trip. For many participants this will be their first opportunity to visit other member countries of the European Union. There will also be plenty of opportunities for sightseeing and shopping.
OTA’s REPORT ON RURAL BME PARTICATION WELL RECEIVEDThe OTA team have now finished a piece of research on behalf of the South West ACRE (Active Communities in Rural England) Network. The aim of the work was to look for ways of increasing participation in rural community life among BME populations living in the countryside. On June 5th at St Sidwells the OTA team presented their findings – the results of interviews with over 40 individuals and of talks with an enormous range of agencies and organisations – to an audience of Rural Community Council representatives who had come to Exeter from as far afield as Cornwall and Glousteshire. The report was received extremely well and the presentation was followed by discussions about the next steps. The OTA report has recommended that the different agencies working in the countryside in the South West need to be pro-active in reaching out to BME individuals and families and in promoting opportunities for people to get involved in social and cultural, political and educational activities. Through this consultation OTA has now agreed a number of partnership initiatives with rurally focused organisations and over the next year we are aiming to extend our activities across rural Devon. We want to put into action as many of the report’s recommendations as possible and to make sure that the activities we support in the city of Exeter are also available in Devon’s small towns and villages. To find out more about some of the initiatives in the rural South West visit SWAN’s homepage at http://www.acre.org.uk/zRCCNETWORK_SOUTH_WEST.htm or the home of Devon’s Rural Community Council at http://www.devonrcc.org.uk
MIGRANT WORKERS TRIP TO BATHDuring our research for SWAN we interviewed a number of Eastern European migrant workers who are living and working in the villages of Devon. To thank them for their help the Olive Tree organised a daytrip for some of the workers, their friends and their families. The offer proved popular and in the end we managed to fill a 55 seater coach The visit to the historical city of Bath included a tour of the Roman Baths and the chance to combine some sightseeing and some shopping. |
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