A guest post by Julie Wilkinson at The Zephaniah Trust.

You can watch the new animation here.

Jhora’s Story is the story of a young Rohingyan refugee, brought to the UK with her family under the UNHCR Gateway Protection Programme. Her story is one of three firsthand accounts by refugees and those who work with them in Bradford, combined into a script called Refugee Voices, a pioneering drama project founded by the Zephaniah Trust in 2011.

Working primarily in schools but also with community groups, our staff work with groups of children and adults to prepare performances of the script to showcase to their peers, alongside myth-busting sessions and lessons on asylum seekers and refugees. Our work on the project has played a key role in the Schools of Sanctuary programme in Bradford.

Alongside the drama project, we are working on other creative ways to tell these stories and help them to reach more schools. Jhora’s Story was commissioned to launch in Refugee Week 2016, featuring animation by Adam Syrop and voiceover work by Madeline Watkins. One of the other stories featured in our project, Michael’s Story, has been turned into a song by singer/songwriter John Froud available here: https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/michaels-story. The Refugee Voices project is coordinated by our Storyteller Julie Wilkinson.

Refugee Voices has already reached hundreds of children and young people in primary and secondary schools across Bradford, challenging misconceptions and promoting empathy and understanding through the power of personal stories. In both the script and the animation, we have kept the original words of those who entrusted us with their stories as far as possible. The feedback we have had from our project is testament to the power of those words to stir peoples’ hearts and minds and change opinion.

For more information have a look here: