Helping those seeking safety

We are committed to taking action to help those seeking safety. Our Fine Acts projects are still in development, but in the meantime here are some links to action and charity groups working to provide aid. You can support their work through donations, fundraising and volunteering. And do let us know if you have links we can add. 

• CalAid
  The CalAid group collects donations for those living in the Calais refugee camps.
• STAR
  STAR (Student Action for Refugees) is a national charity of 12,000 students welcoming refugees to the UK through volunteering, campaigning, fundraising and education.
• Refugee Action
  Refugee Action runs various fundraising events to support their activities including providing legal advice to migrants forced into homelessness, finding accommodation for asylum seekers living on the streets and giving advice on the possibilities for returning home.
• Refugee Council
  The Refugee Council offers practical support and advice to refugees and asylum seekers throughout their journey in the UK.
• Oxfam
  Oxfam has launched an appeal to help the millions of people fleeing their homes around the world.
• Save the Children
  Save the Children has a dedicated Syria appeal to help the many children affected there and across the Middle East by the war in Syria.
• Migrant Offshore Aid Station
  MOAS (the Migrant Offshore Aid Station) is a registered foundation dedicated to preventing loss of life at sea by providing professional search and rescue assistance to people who find themselves in distress on high sea or trapped on unsafe vessels.
• #HelpCalais Amazon wish list
  The #HelpCalais campaign is a trans-European project seeking to provide temporary shelter, clothing and support to refugees making the journey to western Europe. The Amazon wishlist provides an opportunity for supporters to buy the goods that refugees and charities need.

Stories of The Future from the Cartagena Data Festival

The Future is an artwork by Alicia Eggert and Safwat Saleem which is part of our PEACE collection. For three days in April 2015 we displayed it in Salon Fray Tomas del Toro in the beautiful Casa 1537 in Cartagena, Columbia, as part of the Cartagena Data Festival.

The Cartagena Data Festival is a meeting of around 400 International actors in the development sector who have convened to discuss how to continue to activate the "data revolution" for good.

Everyone in the development community needs to comprehend what data do exist and what do not. It is evident that effective representation and visualisation of data will play a key role in helping to solve some of our global issues. Whether it is through direct statistic-driven provocation or more subtle techniques, the use of data in engaging people can be very powerful.

The Future comprises 206 lightbulbs, each of which represents a sovereign state. If the lightbulb is on, the country is at peace. he artists decided which countries were at peace based on data from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) and warsintheworld.com. 

Showing The Future at Cartagena Data Festival (for international development folks) highlighted that data is disputable (surprised?). A number of people questioned why their country was not lit up, they were sure that they were at peace - one in particular, a government advisor was certain her country was not in conflict.

So, what does 'at peace' mean in this context? Many internally peaceful countries have soldiers in other countries; it turns out that Luxembourg has troops in Afghanistan.

What also became clear from the audience was that some data was not up-to-date, or was supplied by an uninformed or biased source. Our online reputations are as good as the last thing posted about us, whether we are a country or a person.

We wish to thank the Overseas Development Initiative and the Open Data Institute for enabling us to host The Future in Cartegena.

Julie