It’s Refugee Week and what better way to spend it than reading about how one of our supporters is providing a place of Sanctuary for those who want it. We’re really pleased to have awarded the Oxfam Bookshop in Castle Street  a Shop of Sanctuary Award in 2014.

The article is an excellent example challenging the harmful misinformation often present in the mainstream media. Volunteers at the shop, about a third of which are  refugees and asylum seekers, can be found “Sitting in the back room amid the teetering towers of books, with the kettle happily bubbling and the chocolates being passed around.”

Cocozza writes: “it is easy to see why this shop is so important to those who work here. It casts them immediately in a different relationship with the outside world. Instead of needing help, they are giving help – to customers – and all for a good cause. In the shop, they are knowledgeable insiders.”