BURLEY-in-Wharfedale Methodist Church will host John Sloan, one of the founders of the charity Refugee Support, who will be speaking about its work on Tuesday, October 24 at 7.30pm.

He will talk about the conditions faced by refugees in Greece and around the world, share some stories about the extraordinary individuals the organisation has supported and why it puts dignity, normality and respect at the heart of what it does.

John has been instrumental in achieving this in various camps in Greece by several means, not least of which was arranging all the donated aid in “shops” in each camp, for which refugees were given tokens thus enabling them to shop for the things they wanted. The ‘toy shops’ were very popular with the children, who were given a few tokens each.

John and his team of volunteers, who adhere to the highest standards, also provided language classes, leisure activities, and games and lessons for the children, which helps make life a little more normal and bearable in the camps. In November, John is due to go out to Bangladesh with Paul Hutchings, the co-founder of Refugee Support, to see what can be done to help the thousands of Rohingya refugees there who have been fleeing from persecution in Myanmar, and to see if they can help achieve aid with dignity to alleviate their current existence in appalling conditions. John’s talk on October 24th is free, though a retiring collection will be made for the work of Refugee Support.