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CAMBRIDGE ETHNIC COMMUNITY FORUM

62-64 Victoria Road Cambridge CB4 3DU

Tel: (01223) 315877 Fax: (01223) 504303 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cecf.co.uk Company No. 4175678 Charity No. 1086241

Contents: CECF Introduction

Development

Community and Cohesion News

Health News

Fire and Rescue News

Training and Volunteer News

Employment News

Events

Projects at CECF

Services provided on CECF site

Drop-ins on CECF site

CECF Staff & CECF Management

Committee

Newsletter: Issue Ten — March 2010

CECF Introduction The Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum (CECF) had a very successful and well-attended AGM on Wednesday, 17th of February 2010. After the opening comments and initial business completed, reports were presented highlighting the progress CECF had been making. The new CRISP officer, Tony Lindsay outlined the plans for the development of that project. Elections followed where the new committee or board of trustees were nominated for the challenges of the coming year. Our guest speakers were from the Akashi Project. They did a very interesting presentation about the environment from the BME perspective and informed us about an exciting event ‘Many Voices One World, which was to be held on Sunday 21st March 2010, at Hills Road Sixth Form College. This is about Community, Faith & the Environment.

Reported by Eddie Stadnik Development Officer

Development In recent months, I have been liaising with both statutory agencies and the voluntary sector in order that BME issues can be addressed. These have included meetings with Cambridgeshire County Council and the Woman’s Resources Centre. I met with representatives of Mobile Europeans Taking Action (META) to discuss their new service, which assists particularly migrants from the new EU Countries. They now run a weekly drop in service at Mandela House, in Cambridge, to assist those who may be having problems with accessing services. The Cambridge Racial Incident Support Project (CRISP) has received Substantial Funding from the Equality & Human Rights Commission, which has enabled us to recruit two new members of staff to assist us in the important work that this project undertakes. Two of our trustees have volunteered to take an active role in the development of this project through a newly formed working group. It is anticipated from April onwards, that CRISP services will be opening for late surgeries and Saturday’s at CECF. The Forum Field Project is to be cleared and prepared for the new plot holders. Those who have been successful this year in obtaining in a plot should be contacted soon. There are also some exciting events planned in Cambridge over the next few weeks that are detailed in our newsletter which help prove just how vibrant our City is.

Reported by Eddie Stadnik Development Officer

Supported by Funded by

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Community and Cohesion News Multicultural Party – “Celebrating “Unity in Diversity” in Cambridge”

Sunday 13/12/09, 12:30pm – 5pm, The Guildhall, Cambridge There was an initial delay in setting up the venue, which made me a little anxious, as there was a slight confusion on the Guildhall side of the floor set-up, but thanks to the hard efforts by Cambridge Ethniic Community Forum (CECF) Volunteers and Cambridge City Council Events staff, we jointly managed to arrange the venue, as originally planned. The food was later filtering in and food stalls were being set-up in the small hall. It was getting close to 12:30pm and the steel band (performed by Steel Rhythm) were ready to start entertaining in the large hall. The guests started to come in, from across diverse communities, observing the stalls set up by St John’s Ambulance, Cambridge African Network, Dhiverse, Cambridge Malayalee Association, MenelikEducation and MENTER and of course looking forward to the day’s programme. Following the speeches by the Deputy Mayor of Cambridge and the Chair of CECF, I played host for the rest of the event, introducing and generally making sure the performers were prepared and came in on time. There were approximately four performances before the lunch break and twelve performances after. A diverse range of performances were exhibited by the Chinese Community Centre, Cambridge Oriental Centre of Arts, Gruopo Senzala Capoeira, Street Style Dance, Punjabi Cultural Society Cambridge, Cambridge Malayalee Association, MenelikEducation Ltd, Vidya Math from Roshni Margi Dance School, Krishna Zirvaj-Nair from Sanskruti School of Dance, and performances from ARU students with Arabic Samai, Oud Guita, Mbira and Djeme Crums accompanied with some Poetry.

Whilst all that excitement was taking place on stage, in parallel there were also children’s activities taking place on the ground, such as the “Energy Wizard” Competition (organised by Akashi Project), Face painting (by Kaleidoscope) and Henna Tattoo (by Trishna Shah).

During the lunch break, everybody was enjoying the international food provided by the Chinese Community Centre, Luthfa Khatun, Joyce Andrade, Valerie Berkson, Pauline Stepney, Vivian Olaifa and MenelikEducation Ltd. Because of our slight delay with the start of the programme and people having parked at the Grande Arcade car park, were leaving slightly early, but the day later did end around 6:30pm, with very satisfied attendees. Overall, it was a feeling of great relief and sadness that the day ended, but the overall credit for the success has to go to all the performers and volunteers who worked tirelessly to make this a special day. About 300 people attended the event, all those who attended gave a lot of positive feedback, some signed up to be part of the mailing list and everybody who attended look forward to further events organised by CECF. Finally, a big thank you to the food organisers and CECF trustees for their support.

Reported by Mitesh Patel Project Support Officer

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Health News Cambridgeshire NHS Primary Care Trust Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) As a patient, relative or carer sometimes you may need to turn to someone for prompt help, advice and support. This is where PALS can help you. Service Aims • Offer prompt, confidential help & advice to resolve problems quickly about the NHS care providers by:

o GPs, dentists, pharmacists, opticians o Community services (e.g. local clinic, health visitors, district nurses, etc.) o Local Community hospital services

• Signposting service to Acute hospitals • Help contact other organisations who offer advice, including independent advocacy services • Listen to our patients, carers and relatives, to improve patient care • Provide information about local health services and support groups • Give guidance on how to access the NHS Complaints Procedure Drop-in surgeries will be held at the Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum on the following dates:

Wednesday 24/03/10, 9:30am – 12:30pm Wednesday 28/04/10, 9:30am – 12:30pm

Cambridge University Hospitals, NHS Foundation Elections to the Board of Governors They are advertising for 6 vacancies to be filled, namely 3 patient governors, 1 public governor and 2 staff governors. To stand for election as a governor, you must be a member of the Trust. You can be a patient, public or staff member and application for membership is free and without obligation. You are eligible for public membership if you live within the local area for which Addenbrooke’s is the District General Hospital and you are eligible or the Rosie, attended an outpatients’ clinic or the Emergency Department. If you are a patient member, your address is not significant. If you are interested in becoming a member you can apply online via their website: http://www.cuh.org.uk/cuh/structure/foundation_trust/members/members_index.html To be eligible to stand for a governor position, you must be a member of the same constituency. So for example, to be a patient governor you must first be a patient member, and so on. Pelase note that candidate are asked to provide the names of two members of the same constituency to nominate them for the post. Nominations papers are available from Electoral Reform Services Ltd, The Election Centre, 33 Claredon Road, London, N8 0NW or via Tel: (0208) 899203

Cambridgeshire Childcare Information Service at Opportunity Links Opportunity Links holds essential core details of all registered early years childcare provision in the area, and take steps to ensure this information is as up to date and accurate as possible. For more information to access their service go to their Website: www.opportunity-links.org.uk.

Cambridge City Council Independendent Living Services (CCCILS) If you are over 60, CCCILS can give you advise on:

1. Housing available to your needs 2. Financial benefits & Personal alarms 3. Other services citywide that may of interest 4. Support in finding help in your own home 5. Social activities, who share your interests 6. Help to find the right people and enjoy

your life and independence For more information, contact Tracey on Tel: (01223) 458004

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Health News (continued)

Cambridgeshire Local Involvement Network (LINK) Since the launch of the LINK, a Work Group has been set up to concentrate on issues relating to patients with mental health needs. This group wishes to develop an appropriate work programme by finding out from service users, carers and organisations the issues facing people using mental health services. This can be services provided by either health or social care organisations. They would therefore be grateful if you could contact Kim Armitt (Cambridgeshire LINK Facilitator) via Email: [email protected] or Tel:(01480)465362 or follow through their Website: www.cambridgeshirelink.org.uk

Fire and Rescue News Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service are hosting an Awareness Workshop at Cambridge Fire Station on 17th April 2010 between 9.30 am and 1.30pm. This is the second of a series of workshops they are holding across the county. They are aiming these initially at people from BME backgrounds because they are under-represented in the Service and they would like to improve the diversity in their staff. The aim of the workshops is to help them find out more about:

• Role of the Service that plays in the community • Skills, knowledge and qualities needed to work for the Service • Training, job satisfaction and career development that can be had working in the Service.

Men and women aged 17 or over may register by contacting via Email: [email protected] by phoning their hotline on Tel: (01480) 444512.

Training and Volunteer News

EssayAssay can provide you or your organisation low cost, high quality copyediting, correspondence and academic writing assistance

Graham Roberts is the CEO for EssayAssay, which is specifically established to help those from a BME background, to become more effective communicators in the professional world. If you need help with any of the following: • CV, Cover Letter or Job Application Writing • Official correspondence – i.e. resolving disputes or making enquiries of utility companies or service providers • General letter writing • Essay or academic writing • Proofreading Please feel free to browse the EssayAssay Website: www.essayassay.com or contact Graham Roberts directly on Email: [email protected] for a no obligation enquiry/quotation

Employment News Seetec Ground Floor, Alexander House, 1 Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 1UY

• Are you currently unemployed? • Do you need help with your job search?

• Would you like to improve your English & Maths? • Do you want to gain qualifications in English & Maths?

If you have answered YES to any of the above questions contact Eleonora or Mike on Tel: (01223) 361300. Seetec is a training provider which delivers government funded training to unemployed people in receipt of

benefits.

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Events Many Voice One World Sunday 21/03/10, 2pm-6pm (Performances start at 2:15pm), Hills Road Sixth Form College, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8PE A fun, fantastic and FREE event, for everybody to come and attend! Here are some of the highlights that will be featuring at the event: • Keynote speech by Ashok Sinha, Director of the

Stop Climate Chaos coalition • Dance performances from African and Indian

communities • Sacred song, dance and poetry from Mem and

friends of the Sufi tradition • Singing workshop led by Arthasiddhi of

Cambridge Buddhist Centre • Bollywood dance workshop, led by Shilpa Shah,

co-founder of the Akashi Project • Faiths Panel in discussion about faiths and

climate change, chaired by Jenny Kartupelis, Director of the East of England Faiths Council

• Workshop on greening your church or faith meeting place, led by David Chandler and Hilary Marlow of A Rocha.

• For the sceptics - Climate Change: is it really happening? talk by Dr Stephen Peake of the Judge Business School

• Children’s activities (including Hula hooping) • Henna painting • Films: Hanging Gardens of Arabia and Sisters on

the Planet • Delicious food on sale • Lots of engaging activities on how to go low

carbon!

For more information about this FREE event, please contact Tina Shah or Siobhan Mellon on Tel: (01223) 971353 or send them an Email: [email protected] or check out their Website: www.akashi.org.uk

BLING YA TING - “Discover the Heritage, Develop the Artist, Showcase the diversity” Thursday 01/04/10, 7pm – 10pm, (doors open at 6.30pm), Cambridge Corn Exchange Cambridge City Council & Cultural Arts United are proud to present Cambridge’s’ biggest Urban and World Talent Show! So to book a ticket to come watch and for any further information please contact Della via Mobile: 078401 52520 or Email: [email protected]

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Events (continued) MenelikMusic St. Paul;s Centre, Cambridge GROUPO LOKITO 09/04/10 GROUPO LOKITO Fusing Salsa and Congolese Rumba in an exuberant explosion of sound, Grupo Lokito features some of the wonderful musicians who have chosen to make London their home. LUIS LEMA & THE BOMBELE 07/05/10 HEART OF THE WORLD A celebration and exploration of music and culture from around the world. The annual Heart Of The World Festival returns to Cambridge for a fourth year this summer with a month of fantastic events reaching across the city and the region ranging from international performances to community events at venues in and around the city. www.heartoftheworld.co.uk/

MenelikMusic's Contribution to the festival....more to follow... KANYINDA & THE SOUKOUS KOUMBELE 04/0610 KOKO Koko Kanyinda is an outstanding drummer and vocalist from the Congo. He is the last surviving conga player from the first generation of Congolese musicians like Tabu Ley le Rochereau and Franco whose rhumba style took Africa by storm in the 1960s. Kanyinda was a pupil of the great master drummer Kadima and early in his career he performed with a number of Congolese greats including Dr Nico Mbarga, Papa Noel and Sam Magwana. In 1977 he formed his own band Mangelepa who make a big splash in East and Southern Africa , releasing 17 singles and two albums in the process. He then went on to tour Europe with the Real Sounds of Africa. For more information call on Tel: (01223) 769 300 or Mobile : 07842 177344 or Email: [email protected] or Website: www.menelikmusic.com

Cambridge Science Festival 8 - 21/03/10, Various location, Cambridge Full programme online at: www.cambridgescience.org or please call Tel: (01223) 766766 to request a hard copy. Join in on the UK's largest free science festival, exploring subjects from astronomy to zoology, with demonstrations, hands on experiments, talks from leading scientists, and visits to University and partner facilities. Over 150 events will give families, adults and children of all ages two weeks of hands on science and insight into the University’s cutting edge research. Many of the hands on activities, demonstrations and children’s lectures will take place on our family fun days on

Saturday 13 and 20 March.

The Cambridge Caribbean Association (CamCarib) – “A Caribbean Evening and Disco” 24/04/10, 7pm – 12pm, Arbury Community Centre, Campkin Road, Cambridge, CB4 2LD CamCarib invites you to a Caribbean Evening and Disco with Caribbean food and snacks (which are on sale). To book yourself a Ticket, contact Cliff Bell on Mobile: 07709242385 or Mobile: 0774731419.

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Cambridge Refugee and Migrant Support

Helping Asylum Seekers, Refugees & Migrant workers in Cambridge We provide a first point of contact for asylum seekers, refugees & migrant workers in Cambridge City. Our project offers advice & support with a range of issues including:

Accessing healthcare Home Office documentation Benefits entitlement Housing

Destitution Immigration advice Employment NASS Support Education Social Services

In addition we offer free counselling services and English Language tuition.

Drop in for general advice or help Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday

10am -1 pm Service providers British Red Cross Refugee Service Asylum seekers & refugees by appointment on a Friday 10am – 4 pm Immigration Advisory Service Community Legal Advice & Representation for asylum seekers & immigrants by appointment on a Tuesday. Refugee Migrant Justice Community Legal Advice & Representation for asylum seekers, refugees & migrant workers by appointment on a Wednesday. For more information or to book an appointment please contact us on 01223 315877. This is a project run by the Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum in partnership with the British Red Cross Refugee Service and MENTER, as well as working with Immigration Advisory Service and Refugee Migrant Justice.

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Services provided on CECF site Cambridge Racial Incident

Support Project (CRISP) Helps individuals who have been victims of discrimination, or who have been a victim of racial harassment. Monday-Friday (10am – 5pm) To book an appointment please contact Tony Lindsay on Tel: (01223) 462615 or Email: [email protected]

Refugee and Migrant Justice

Community Legal Advice & Representation for Asylum Seekers and Migrants. For more information go to Website: www.rmj.org.uk Every Wednesday (appointment only)

To book an appointment, please contact us on Tel: (01223) 315877

Immigration Advisory Service

Community Legal Advice & Representation for Immigrants and Asylum Seekers. For more information go to Website: www.iasuk.org Every Tuesday (appointment only) To book an appointment, please contact us on Tel: (01223) 315877

Italian Benefit Advice

Every 1st Friday of every Month from 10am - 12 (noon) To book an appointment, please contact Carlo Ciccarello on Tel: 01234 357889

Drop-ins on CECF site

General Drop-in Times and Free Computer use

Monday to Friday from 10am to 1pm

British Red Cross Refugee Services

For Asylum Seekers and Refugees Every Friday (10am - 4pm) To book an appointment, please contact us on Tel: (01223) 315877

Developing Partnerships with ABMEC C.I.C.

The Akashi Project British Red Cross

Cambridge City Council Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire NHS

Equality and Human Rights Commission Huntingdonshire Community Association

Immigration Advisory Service MENTER

Refugee and Migrant Justice

Members: Abdul Rashid Khan Anil Soni Benedict Darwa Deniz Kartel Eva Simmons George Akelinza Hazra Awal Jogmohanlal Kale Joyce Andrade Mahendra Soopaul Mustafa Ongan Patricia Crampton

Chair: Redge Carpen Secretary: Valerie Berkson Treasurer: Mirza Baig

Development Officer: Eddie Stadnik Project Support Officer: Mitesh Patel CRISP Officer: Tony Lindsay CECF Receptionist Asmita Sapra

CECF Management Committee CECF Staff

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