Safe Passage Young Leaders: Education for Social Change in the Virtual World
Safe Passage International helps refugees access safe and legal routes to sanctuary. Through a combination of campaigning,
advocacy and legal casework, they influence policy and work directly with young people and families to help them reunite with
loved ones and reach sanctuary. Youth Advocacy and Campaigns Organiser Ruth Holtom works with an inspirational group of young people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds – Safe Passage Young Leaders - who speak out about issues that affect them and others like them and campaign for a more welcoming, just and equal world. She shares her experience of virtual engagement with the group.
Every Tuesday morning, I open my laptop and send round a Zoom link to the young people I have the privilege of working with, reminding them that we will be meeting that evening. Then, just before our evening session, I log on to Zoom and get ready to welcome them into our virtual space. Their names pop up in the waiting room, and we all gather on the screen, our faces lit up by the glow of our phones or computer screens.
Compared to preparing for face-to-face workshops, running these weekly Zoom sessions might seem simple and stress-free. Instead of filling my bags with flipchart paper, risk assessments and petty cash, I simply log on to Zoom, share my screen and create some breakout rooms. But as anyone currently facilitating online learning knows, youth engagement in this new virtual world brings a whole host of new challenges.
After hours of algebra and English on computer screens, often struggling to connect to unreliable WiFi, it can be tiring and draining for the young people we work with to participate in additional sessions in the evenings. It is a challenge to ensure that everyone can join our sessions, when there is such disparity in digital access, homelife and English language levels. However, I have been constantly astounded by the Young Leaders’ energy and commitment to bringing about the change they want to see in the world, even when they are unable to meet face to face.
Safe Passage Young Leaders
These inspiring young people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds meet weekly online to make friends, learn new skills, and work together to make change and challenge injustice. The young people I get to work with are experts by experience on refugee policy and they care passionately about creating safe and legal routes to safety for people like them. Since the pandemic began, the Safe Passage Young Leaders have achieved an incredible amount from the confines of their own homes. In the past nine months, they have:
Produced a video calling on politicians to protect family reunion for refugees.
- Written and delivered a letter to members of the House of Lords urging them to vote to protect family reunion in the Immigration Bill.
- Met influential MPs and peers online and shared their views and opinions on issues relating to asylum and immigration.
- Got involved with Safe Passage as an organisation, shared their ideas and expertise, and helped us to recruit new members of staff.
- Collaborated with other groups of young refugee campaigners, such as Hummingbird Young Leaders and Kent Refugee Action Network Youth Forum, creating connections across geographical divides and building strong networks of solidarity and support.
In this new year of 2021, the Young Leaders have a lot to speak out about. Now that the UK has left the EU, and with it the Dublin
Regulation family reunion scheme, refugees must apply for family reunification through domestic immigration rules, which are much more restrictive. Furthermore, various other resettlement schemes for refugees are still on pause due to the pandemic, and the government has recently announced that it will not be continuing resettlement for child refugees from Europe.
Campaigning with Safe Passage, the Young Leaders are hoping to influence policy on these issues in an upcoming government review on safe and legal routes. Over the past year they have proven to be brave and unflinching in their words and actions, and I have no doubt that these young people will stop at nothing to hold the Government to account.
If you have any questions about Safe Passage’s campaigns or the Young Leaders group, contact Ruth at ruth@safepassage. org.uk. If you know a young person who would be interested in joining the Young Leaders, you can find out more on our website.
Article from Engage issue 22.
BY RUTH HOLTOM • June 18, 2021
Mike Fleetham of Thinking Classroom has written a book " Headlines: Inspiration, humour and advice for school leaders ". A collection of original ideas, advice from professionals, quotes, and tips to support and inspire all leaders. Perfect for new and established leaders working in education, especially headteachers. "Being a headteacher is like looking both ways before you cross the road, and then getting hit by an aeroplane." To Enter the Competition To win a copy of Headlines please share your inspiring education or life lesson in no more than 600 words. The winning article will also be published in our next edition of Engage. Send your words of inspiration to admin@stevesinnottfoundation.org.uk 📅 Deadline: 5th September 2025 Stuck on Ideas? Here are some questions and prompts to get you started! What’s the one lesson school didn’t teach you, but life did? Think of a moment that changed your path, what happened? What piece of advice has helped you grow the most? When did a challenge turn into an opportunity for you? What story from your life would inspire someone on the other side of the world? What’s the life lesson that unlocked your next chapter? Your words could uplift, empower and be seen by many. Let your story inspire the world! 🌍💡 Good luck and we cant wait to read all the entries!
This week our CEO Ann and Jude (SSF Ambassador) visited schools in Coventry and heard about the wonderful work that students are doing to foster peace and community connection, as part of Coventry Arts Week. We visited Lyng Hall school in the morning and met with Ms Hagan and four of the schools UNESCO ASPnet ambassadors. They told us all about their recent project. The students took their art and poetry to the 80th Anniversary symposium in Ypres and Dunkirk. They shared with us some of the poetry they had written together with the students on the field trip and some of their own poems too. They also shared their future plans for working with their local primary school on peace and community. We also had the privilege of joining Ms Hagans class where they were looking at Caliban’s tale. Here is one of the students work
For my birthday this year I had the honour to walk 60 miles (yes it was a big 0 birthday) over 3 days to support the essential work of the Steve Sinnott Foundation of which I am CEO. Education in its many forms is essential for all of us to thrive and make the most of life's opportunities. The Foundation works to ensure that as many children and adults as possible across the globe can access the human right of education. The plan was to walk with friends and supporters who I hoped would keep me smiling along the way and it felt like a good way to make use of the Foundation’s “Get Moving” campaign. Here's how my Get Moving Fundraiser went on the first day. The 13th June I started my walk in London by walking from Barnet to west Hampstead and visiting my sister at her shop at Tree of Life where I got served a nice iced coffee to keep me going.
