Stories of Hope and Home is made up of a diverse group of participants from all over the world. People from more than 50 different nationalities from across four continents have engaged with our activities. The current or recent lived experience of seeking sanctuary in the UK and building a new home in Birmingham or the wider West Midlands is part of our story: but it certainly does not define everything about who we are. We are of different ages and genders; we have different cultures and faiths; we speak different languages and express different opinions. We have different pasts and we dream of different futures. 

For all the differences between us, we describe ourselves as one family, united by our mutual support and love for one another. We are a caring and close-knit group who know from experience the value of welcome and hospitality and therefore remain constantly open to embracing newcomers to our community.

We meet together twice a week to participate in creative activities, share our stories and support one another. Our sessions are focused around finding ways to express ourselves: through conversation and creative writing: stories, poetry and theatre. We create safe space where we can bring the whole of ourselves: our tears and our frustrations as well as lots of laughter and fun. We often find reasons to celebrate and love any excuse for a party! 

If you are seeking sanctuary, based in the west midlands and keen to explore and share your story we might be the right fit for you: get in touch!

Our regular sessions include conversation, creative writing and many, many cups of tea. Much of what we produce is just for ourselves, a way of processing and exploring our thoughts and experiences, but we have also done some more extensive creative projects which have been intended for sharing beyond our own community. Here are a few of the highlights:

Soaring with Clipped Wings

"Soaring with Clipped Wings", an anthology of our poetry, was published in time for Refugee Week 2021, and includes the words of 36 people from 22 different countries. Copies of our book are available in all Birmingham's libraries and can be purchased (for £5 plus P&P) to support the ongoing work of our charity. We have also performed poetry at a number of different events, and led poetry workshops in several schools.

Refugee: What do you know about me?

A collaboration with Welsh National Opera and Birmingham REP, over a period of about six months, we worked first with writer Steven Camden, and then with a composer and musicians from Welsh National Opera to write and create a performance based on our lives and experiences. In July 2022, participants performed "Refugee: What do you know about me?"  alongside professional singers and musicians from the Welsh National Opera on the main stage of the Birmingham REP theatre to an audience of around 500 school students, their staff and other invited guests. The feedback from both the performers and the audience was overwhelmingly positive. 

In the Shadow of the Trees

Following the success of our 2022 performance, we devised, wrote and performed an original piece to be performed as part of Birmingham REPs summer festival in 2023, again to an audience predominantly made up of school students. It felt incredibly precious, and a sign of our group's growing creative confidence that all of the ideas, stories, structure and format were worked out collaboratively within the group.  

Trees become the backdrop for exploring memories of places left behind, places passed through on the journey, and the place that gradually becomes a new home with dreams for the future.

You can watch it online here

Love is a Rebellion

Our 2024 performance at Birmingham REP was once again devised, written and performed entirely by project participants. From the earliest conversations, it became clear that this year, the group were keen to produce a performance that reflected their experience of the UK asylum system. It bore witness to their experience of a hostile system that is designed to isolate and exclude, as well as to the many small acts of love that are, in and of themselves, a rebellion! 

We are delighted that the performance is  also now available to view online

The song that featured in the performance, 'Love is how we Rebel' is also available to stream and download on all the usual platforms, and has become something of an anthem for the group

Home is Where we Belong

Once again, as part of the 2025 REP summer community festival, we took to the stage with our latest performance, Home is Where we Belong. It was the first time we had performed a piece where everyone in the cast spoke live on stage.

Through it the group chose to explore the reality of what it means to be caught in the middle, to feel torn between two places: both of which feel partially like home, while at the same time, neither fully does. 

Still We Rise

Continue to build on all that we have learned from previous performances, we think our Summer 2026 performance, "Still We Rise" was our best yet, testament to our participants' growingskills and confidence.

Through the piece we explore the different experiences which have left them feeling trapped and disempowered; but also how personal resilience and community support enables them to rise up and live joyful, fulfilled lives despite the constraints and struggles they face.

We recorded the dress rehearsal which is available to view online

It also features our new song  which we hope to record and release soon!

Creative Writing

We often write just for ourselves, as a way of reflecting on our lives and processing our experiences, but we also write things we want to share. We are gradually adding some of our writing to our blog.

Watch this space for what's next ...

"Safeguarding" is the name we give to our responsibility to keep each other safe. It includes how we behave towards each other and how we make sure people can get help if they need it.

A lot of people are especially vulnerable because of the situation you are in and we also have lots of young children who join the group. We are a diverse group and we bring together many different cultures, backgrounds and ideas about what is ok. That makes it especially important we take our responsibilities seriously and understand that some things which we think are ok might make someone else feel uncomfortable or might not be acceptable here in the UK.

We know that everyone in this project is experiencing different stresses and challenges, including many problems that we can't solve and that are outside our control. But we also want to create a family where everyone feels as safe and supported as possible.

We have a responsibility to keep everyone safe.

• if you are worried that you or someone else in the group is at risk of getting hurt, physically, emotionally or in any other way
• if something is happening in the group that doesn't seem ok, or you see or experience behaviour that makes you feel uncomfortable
• if someone else tells you that they are at risk of getting hurt (or hurting themself or someone else)

We each have a responsibility to pass this information on to make sure we can try to help.

You can access our safeguarding policy and procedures here.

‘Stories of Hope and Home’ collects contact details from staff, trustees, volunteers, participants, supporters and a wider network of contacts with whom we collaborate. 

We only use these details to send you information directly relating to the project, including invitations to sessions and events. We keep this information because it is in the legitimate interest of our group to publicise our activities to those who have expressed interest or been involved in them.

We also collect and store personal data relating to attendance at our sessions. It is in the legitimate interest of our group to collect this data, including gender, age, nationality and postcode. We use this data to secure funding and other support, to communicate about and celebrate the work of the project and to ensure we are fulfilling the aims of the project. We may use this data when writing references or statements of support for individuals. This information is only shared externally in the form of anonymised statistics or case studies.

We collect data in the form of photos and video and audio recordings so that we can celebrate the work of the project, advertise it to others, and to help meet our objectives of giving asylum seekers and refugees a voice, and of challenging and changing perspectives relating to migration. We will seek informed consent to collect and share this data.

Your details are stored securely, and will usually be deleted if you do not have any contact with us for more than 12 months, unless you request that we continue to keep you informed. You can ask us to amend or delete your details at any time by contacting info@storiesofhome.org.uk

Stories of Hope and Home is the Data Controller

The Manager is the Data Protection Manager