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Every person sleeping rough in Bristol this winter could soon have their own life-saving thermal sleep pod - thanks to an incredible project co-ordinated by the citys music scene.

Top names from bands like Portishead and Idles are among those who have pitched in to fund and develop a new invention called a Sleep Pod, which should stop anyone on the streets freezing as the winter chill descends.

Some 400 of the new inventions - which were developed as a result of a team of volunteers efforts to help refugees and migrants in the Calais Jungle a few years ago - have been brought to Bristol.

And now they will be gradually distributed to the homeless in the city, and Bath and Weston-super-Mare, from this week and into the coming weeks and months.

The project was the brainchild of a group of people who put their normal lives on hold when the European Migrant Crisis hit in 2015 and 2016 and headed to northern France to feed, clothe and look after the welfare of thousands of people who were trying to reach Britain.

Many were from Bristols vibrant music and nightlife scene, with people in bands and those who run venues and pubs joining forces.

That relief effort spawned the Bristol-based charity Aid Box Community, and now one of the lasting legacies from that relief effort is going to be seen on the streets of Bristol.

Some of the team worked on a cheap and easy way to keep people sleeping out in the open warm in cold nights - and developed the sleep pod to take over to the Jungle in Calais.

Now, a fundraising drive to get together 10,000 to buy 400 Sleep Pods has been successful.

Much of the cash comes from a charity fundraiser music event being staged on December 12 called Give a Sh** Xmas, which has already sold out. It features Idles and Beak, the band of Portisheads Geoff Barrow, and is being put together by the leading figures of Bristols music and festival scene, the people behind Love Saves the Day, Boomtown, Shambala and other venue owners.

Joby Andrews, a director of pub and venue chain Refresh the West, said: This is a truly Bristol collaboration of people who recognise there is a homeless crisis in our city and have come together with an emergency measure to stop people dying on the streets this Christmas.

We recognised there is a homeless emergency in Bristol. The amount of rough sleepers you see on the streets these days has just exploded in the last few years, due to cuts in services.

Some friends of ours who we met when we were volunteering in refugee camps invented the Sleep Pod, which is an emergency measure to stop people dying on the streets, he added.

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Faced with a 10,000 bill for making the idea of 400 Sleep Pods a reality for those on the streets, Bristols leading lights of the music scene stepped up.

Tom Friend, who runs Friendly Records in Bedminsters North Street, was one who set up a fundraising drive called Give a Sh** Xmas to raise money each Christmas, and pulled together Bristols bands to get involved this year.

If Tom Friend was the Bob Geldof for Bristols homeless, then the likes of Idles, Beak and Babyhead were the U2, Phil Collins and Wham!

All the bands stepped up to play the fundraising gig, and Beaks Geoff Barrow, Idles Jon Beavis and Tom Mauger from Babyhead were there to see the fruits of their efforts arrive in Bristol on Tuesday.

Weve been overwhelmed by the response to this years gig there is so much support from the local community in supporting people who have nowhere to live and we all have a role to play, said Tom Friend.

In particular, where people cannot access a safe nights respite this is particularly desperate. When we heard about the drive to bring 400 Sleep Pods to Bristol, we knew we had to support it alongside our other amazing charities and hope as many people can get involved in the build as possible, he added.

Joby Andrews said some of the organisers of Bristols huge festivals also got involved.

We pulled together all our resources from festivals and businesses, and pubs and the music industry in Bristol, raised enough money to make 400 of them, so were going to try and get one to every rough sleeper in Bristol, Bath and Weston this winter, to stop anybody dying of exposure on the streets, said Joby Andrews.

Give a S*** Xmas has stepped in at the last minute to help us raise the extra funds we needed to get the 400 sleep pods down here from where they are made in Birmingham, so we are particularly grateful to them.

We really need people now to come and help us build the pods and get them out to people who have nowhere else to go over the festive period, he added.

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Homeless charities in Bristol are now going to co-ordinate the distribution of the pods.

Shada Nasrullah from Feed the Homeless Bristol, said the sleep pods would save lives.

I think they are going to be really vital for the rough sleeping homeless community in Bristol over the winter, she said.

Feed The Homeless Bristol are one of a number of charities that go out to feed and help the rough sleepers in Bristol. Its teams go out twice a week, and the numbers they help are growing - up to 120 each night, with another dozen or so in Weston.

A large proportion of those are rough sleeping, so they are out on the streets in all elements, just protected with a sleeping bag if they are lucky.

They are very vulnerable and are exposed to the health risks in those sorts of conditions.

The Sleep Pod is going to give them some sort of protection from those elements.

"The levels of rough sleepers are increasing and those who are on the streets will die younger because of the impact this has on their health, she added.

Not only are rough sleepers more susceptible to illness and infections, they're also having to deal with our harsh winters. Having somewhere warm and dry to sleep will save lives and improve the quality of life for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, she said.

For the latest news in and around Bristol, visit and bookmark Bristol Live's homepage.

Read more from the original source:
The remarkable way Bristol's music scene is saving the lives of the homeless this winter - Bristol Post

(ANSAmed) - ATHENS, 18 NOV - The ongoing refugee crisis inGreece continues to lurch from one tragedy to the next with thedeath of a nine-month old baby at the notoriously overcrowdedMoria reception center on the island of Lesvos the latest in along line of black pages in what continues to be an extremelysad story.

The Greek arm of NGO organization Meicins Sans Frontieres(Doctors Without Borders) confirmed at the weekend that a babyhad died a few days ago in hospital after being admitted withsevere dehydration. Despite receiving emergency care inhospital, the infant did not survive.

"The MSF team has confirmed the information with the hospital.

We are overwhelmed by this new tragedy," said a statement byeicins Sans Frontieres via their Twitter account.

The organisation urged the Greek government and EU once again toact quicker and take drastic measures to resolve the currentmass overcrowding and squalid living conditions refugees faceespecially on the island camps. "Children are dying in Europe due to neglect of health care andunacceptable living conditions; nothing has improved nearly fouryears after the EU-Turkey agreement. It's outrageous and cannotgo on. The mental and physical health of people at Moria isconstantly at risk. Greece and the European Union must actimmediately!"This latest death another dark stain in the history of Greece'srefugee crisis which exploded in 2015, stabilized somewhat from2016-18 but has once again blew up in a big way in 2019.

Approximately 15,000 people are staying in and around the Moriacamp on Lesvos, cramped into a space more than four times itscapacity of just 3,000.

Greece continues to struggle with the ongoing migrant crisis,which has begun to spiral out of control since the summer. Theisland camps are desperately overcrowded and the flows of peoplecoming into the country continues unabated.

According to the latest official data, a total of 10,882migrants crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands from September16 to October 16 alone. And the influx has continued in theearly part of November.

The government has begun to step up a program of transferringmigrants from island camps to alternative sites on the mainland,but progress is slow and exacerbated by continuing incomingflows of people as well as opposition from locals in themainland communities where the state wants to build new orextend existing facilities.

Although Greece's parliament finally approved a newcontroversial bill on asylum earlier this month, in an effort totackle the growing refugee crisis, there has been strongopposition from SYRIZA and human rights groups, who havelabelled the new stricter laws "a naked attempt to block accessto protection and increase deportations." The controversial and complex 237-page bill entitled"international protection and other provisions" is mainlyfocused on asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, andthe idea is that it will empower Greece to process asylum claimsquicker, as well as send more people illegible back to Turkey.

But the bill is being seen as inhumane, especially by humanrights groups. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR alsoexpressed its concerns about the legislation, saying that itcould weaken the protection of refugees.(ANSAmed).

See the article here:
Another week, another migrant tragedy in Greece - Analysis - ANSAMed - ANSAmed

EXCLUSIVE: NBC has handed a put pilot commitment to Home, a single-camera comedy about an American couple who take in a Syrian refugee. It is based on the British series, which was created by Rufus Jones and originally aired on Channel 4 in the UK. The adaptation will be written/executive produced by former Black-ish EP Stacy Traub and directed/executive produced by Ben Stiller.

It marks the second project to emerge out of Lionsgate and BBC Studios development deal and comes on the back of CBS nabbing an adaptation of BBC One comedy Ghosts.

Home follows a new couple, Mark and Melanie, who go on a long weekend trip to a cabin in the woods with Melanies son Jonah. Their plan to come back with a tan and some happy memories is interrupted when they return with Jay, a Syrian refugee who moves in with them, and the cobbled-together family soon discovers what home really means.

The original series debuted on Channel 4 this year and was produced by British indie Channel X. Starring Jones, Raised by Wolves Rebekah Staton, Youssef Kerkour and Oaklee Pendergast, the series was picked up for a second season by Channel 4 this summer after its six-episode run.

The NBC version will be produced by Lionsgate Television and BBC Studios in association with 3 Arts Entertainment and Stillers Red Hour Films. Stiller will exec produce through his company, along with Nicky Weinstock, with Traub (left), who also exec produced The Real ONeals; Jones; Channel X MD Alan Marke; Jantaculums Adam Tandy, who produced the original; 3 Arts Entertainments Tom Lassally; and BBC Studios Angie Stephenson.

2019 CBS Pilots & Series Orders

Jones originally wrote Home in 2015, at the height of the European migrant crisis when tens of thousands of people, most of them Syrians, were hitting the ports of Greece.

NBCs Home joins CBS comedy pilot The United States of Al, exec produced by Chuck Lorre, about the friendship between an American Marine combat veteran in Ohio and his Afghan interpreter who has just come to the U.S.

Traub is repped by A.B. Fischer & Dennis Kim at Literate and attorney Ken Richman. Stiller is with WME, Untitled and Gang Tyre. Jones is repped by 3 Arts and Laura Rourke at Independent Talent in UK. Marke and Tandy are repped by George Davis of Nelson Davis Law.

Read the original here:
NBC Nabs Adaptation of British Immigrant Comedy Home From Ben Stiller, Stacy Traub, Lionsgate TV & BBC Studios As Put Pilot - Deadline

Last June, Christy Jones was prepped to lead a student mission group of a dozen area high school students 900 miles south to the United States-Mexico border. It would have been the fourth such trip in as many years.

But it never happened. Only two students signed up, Jones said. That was highly unusual because considerable excitement usually surrounds these mission trips.

When she asked the students why they werent participating in the 2019 St. Peters mission trip, she learned their parents were nervous about the security situation at the border, with talk in the news at the time concerning massive immigration caravans, Mexican cartel meddling and overwhelmed U.S. officials and Border Patrol personnel.

A veteran of multiple trips to the region, Jones knew she had to counter those fears and false claims about whats going on at the southern U.S. border.

The situation down there is not scary, Jones said, a parent and volunteer who serves as team leader for the St. Peters group. Youre safe down there. Its really a loving, warm environment. The kids need to see that. The kids need to see what that community is doing down there, how tight-knit they are, how much they help each other and how we can (positively) impact that.

And the best way to do that?

Get the parent educated, Jones said.

Trip to the southern U.S. border

Last month, 11 Joplin area adults Christy and Todd Jones: the Rev. J. Friedel; Ellen Broglio; Stephanie and Donald Clarke; Kathy and Gene McCain; Christine and Mary Vu; and Diane Langford arrived at the southern Texas border on Saturday, Oct. 19.

During a stay that ran through Wednesday, Oct. 23, group members visited three areas. Each of these locations had been visited by Joplin student groups in the past.

The first stop was a soup kitchen, named Loaves and Fishes, located in San Benito, Texas.

The second was a San Benito-based long-term care center, La Posada Providencia. Operated by the Sisters of Divine Providence, the facility offers a safe and welcoming home to immigrants seeking legal refuge in the U.S.

There, we just taught (them) English, life skills and we worked on their garden, Jones said. We (also) took care of the babies; a lot of moms and dads have little ones, and while theyre in class learning English, we play and babysit the kids.

But it was at the groups third and final location a short-term respite center in McAllen, Texas that made a lasting impact on Jones. And not a positive one, she said.

Ugly border crossing

They visited the Catholic Charities-operated Humanitarian Respite Center twice, Jones said.

It had changed dramatically in the last year, she said of the respite center, because of the policies in the United States.

Prior to the 2019 trip, Jones said the facility served as a key way station for individuals and families whod crossed the U.S. border, were picked up by Border Patrol and processed through a detention center. After their release, the center allows asylum seekers a chance to grab a shower, new clothes, toiletries, food and other comforts before moving on and connecting with relatives already living in the country to await their immigration court date.

During past trips, Jones said, asylum seekers would drive up (to the center) in droves, 200 people a day, an amazing amount of people. They would come off the bus, 40 at a time, and wed say Welcome to the United States because this was really their first time on American soil without being detained.

Thats not the case now, she said. In what Jones called an unprecedented situation, refugees awaiting their asylum court hearings are now being sent back across the border into Matamoros, which lies directly opposite Brownsville, Texas. There, a tent city now sits on the banks of the Rio Grande river. Mexican authorities had provided portable toilets just two weeks before the Joplin group arrived at the border.

The center, Jones said, has the capacity to serve up to 1,000 migrants at a time, but on the days they visited no more than a dozen migrants were present.

Twice, the Joplin group, on behalf of Catholic Charities, pulled wheeled carts full of food and toiletries across the bridge into Mexico. There, they handed out 20 gallons of milk and 400 sandwiches to the migrants that number anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 people. Everything was gone within minutes, Jones said. Later, toothbrushes, toothpaste and eye drops were distributed, the latter because so many migrants have infections from bathing in the filthy Rio Grande water.

As soon as you take your foot off the bridge you can see just this sea of tents and tarps hanging from trees, she said. There is no grass to be found. Every inch of ground is taken. Thousands of people are there. And theyve been there for who knows how long.

The worst experience occurred, Jones said, when they had to choose which lucky migrant parent received a rare bottle of rehydrating Pedialyte, which Jones said is like gold down there because drinking the filthy river water causes widespread illnesses among infants and children.

There were just these eyes looking at you, pleading their case My mom is back there with my brother who is 3 months old and all these stories and we have to figure out who to give the Pedialyte to, Jones said with a shake of her head. Its just heartbreaking.

It shouldnt be this way, I remember thinking, she said.

Emotions running high

When Jones returned home she felt shellshocked for the first two days, before the emotions from the trip finally hit her. She particularly remembers one night, lying safe in bed as a south Texas storm pounded the border area, spawning tornado warnings all around them.

When the (tornado) sirens were going off, and our phones were going off, I remember lying there thinking, How is it right that Im in here (safe) and theyre out there (in tents), just because of where they were born?

Future trips

As of now, Jones is planning a fourth student trip in the spring of 2020 and, because of the success of last months trip, a second adult trip for the fall of 2020.

For details about the 2019 trips to the 2020 trips, contact Jones at kccajones@gmail.com.

Read more from the original source:
Area residents receive first-hand account of border crisis - Joplin Globe

Since 2000, the number of migrants from conflict countries in Africa attempting to cross the Mediterranean has geometrically increased. The influx has been unmaintainable and has forced several European governments to institute strict border policies. Until recently, the Guardian reports explain how preventing migrants from entering Italy via Libya is a joint agreement between Libya and the EU. A 13-page paper reveals a multimillion-euro deal provided by the EU and Italy to Libya for the Libyan coastguards to intercept migrants in the Mediterranean. This has been a profitable business model for Libya but aims at blocking migrants from the European shores.

Despite the untold and undocumented violence meted on migrants in Libyan detention facilities, the EU has provided an extra 5m to Libya and the deal will be continued.

Below are some points enumerated from the presidency of the EU council for a high-level working group on asylum and migration:

There are an estimated 17 to 35 official and unofficial facilities with some run by the militia. 3,700 of the presumed 5,000 people are detained in conflict areas.

Bribery, corruption, non-registration of migrants and links to human trafficking groups is rampant at these centers.

The paper adds the Libyan government is indifferent to report regular disappearances of people arrested by Libyan coastguards.

According to humanitarian organizations, detainees are coerced by camp officials into forcing relatives to pay for their release.

In July, not less than 53 men, women and children were killed and 130 injured when a detention facility near Tripoli, in which 644 migrants and refugees had been detained, was bombed. Sadly, the bombed-out centre was then swiftly refilled with people provided by the Libyan coastguards.

Statistically, the people arriving in Italy from Libya have dropped from 107,000 in 2017 to about 13,000 in 2018, and to just 1,100 by August this year. The Libyan coastguards have intercepted 5,280 people as of August 2019.

Even though the European parliaments civil liberties committee has interrogated EU officials as the Labour MEP Claude Moraes sought full disclosure of the human cost, there is a need for human consideration before policies are made.

Sophie in t Veld, a Dutch MEP on the committee, said: Over the years, billions of euros have flown into Libya with the sole purpose of keeping migrants away from Europe. It is part of Fortress Europe, the European equivalent of Trumps wall. Just a lot more lethal than the wall

The EU has to be responsible to devise humane alternatives to handle the migrant crisis. As unpredictable conflicts have erupted in the last decades, resolutions to curb its eminent effects should include the protection of fundamental human rights. Rather than detaining migrants under harsh conditions, the Libyan government should deport them back to their countries. Preventing people from crossing to Europe through death and harsh measures will never solve the ongoing migrant phenomenon.

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EU Reports Reveal Libya's Reason For Migrant Detentions - The Organization for World Peace