Powerful testimonies of Sudanese refugees in Bolton

The families, from Sudan, were resettled in Bolton in January 2006 as part of the Gateway Protection Programme, a joint UN and Home Office scheme to resettle people who have fled war and persecution.

The exhibition told the extraordinary and moving testimonies of the families who spent years in refugee camps in Uganda.

They describe their lives before the devastating civil war broke out in Sudan, the day to day realities of living in an overcrowded and dangerous refugee camp and their experiences of Bolton during their first year in the town.  The testimonies are accompanied by photographs of their lives in Africa and their life in Bolton.

The Gateway Protection Programme was established in 2002 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with an aim to find homes in other countries for people exiled in refugee camps with no chance of returning home or building a future in their country of exile.

 In 2004, Bolton became the second town in the UK to accept groups, who came from Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bury also has since joined the scheme.

Councillor Ismail Ibrahim, Executive Member for Culture and Community Services, said: “Bolton is well known for its friendly people and welcoming attitude. This exhibition reflects aspects of life that most of us will fortunately never have to experience, but it’s important that we show this kind of work so that we can understand these issues and be inspired to help make things better. Hopefully it will be a fitting tribute to the courage of these people and also to the people of Bolton, who have shown the way in offering them a better life.”

The new arrivals have been assisted by a small team of resettlement workers from the independent charity Refugee Action during their first 12 months in the town. 

Rick Jones, the manager of the Refugee Action in Bolton, said: “This exhibition is a fitting testimony to the refugees’ extraordinary courage and will to survive. During the 12 months that we have worked with them we have seen them go from strength to strength as they have learned about their new culture, made new friends, started re-training and finding jobs and as the youngsters have settled into school. I am sure they will go on to make an even bigger contribution to Bolton in the future.”

For more details about the exhibition go to the Gateway Protection Programme exhibition page