A group of us visited Swansea Mosque recently to take part in their open day. They open up the mosque once a year to the public, with stalls, food, and a guided tour of the massive site on St Helen’s Road.

We have an increasingly active Churches of Sanctuary network in Swansea, with lots of our members coming from churches and wanting to support the sanctuary movement. However, we don’t really have solid links to the local mosques and we jumped at the invitation to get to know some of the growing Muslim community in Swansea.

The mosque welcomes all Muslim asylum seekers and refugees as equals into their family. It also reflects the large emphasis placed by Islam on charitable works, many of which extend into the wider Swansea community. Many people seeking sanctuary, including non-Muslims, benefit from these initiatives. We heard about the many Ukrainians they helped and how many refugees join them for their Iftar during Ramadan. We were really happy to run into an old friend, Rezq, who is now an active member of the mosque.

We were also impressed to learn more about their food bank, which is open to local people by referral from local organisations including EYST and Swansea Council. They also showed us their baby bank, where anyone needing help with clothes and equipment for young children can receive items for free. 

Hopefully we can continue to link up better in the future and learn more from each other about how we can promote a culture of welcome in Swansea. We would love to see a really active Faith Centres of Sanctuary movement rise up in Swansea to show the city how we stand together for asylum rights.

Do get in touch if you’d like to see us do more in this space and have any ideas for what we might do over the coming year!