Thread by @thetimes

🗣 Emma Thompson

Eighteen years ago I suggested to the @refugeecouncil that we have a Christmas party every year which I could host

thetimes.co.uk/article/charit…

🗣 We always had a multilingual Santa and served beautiful vegetarian food. I think it gave refugee families a moment of respite, a moment to feel honoured and valued in a space that was safe and in which their children could be children and enjoy themselves

🗣 It was at one of these parties I was fortunate enough to meet the boy who would become our son

🗣 Tindy was 16. Wordless, really. He didn’t speak English and he had been kidnapped, forced into child soldiery

🗣 Witnessing Tindy growing up has been a continual lesson in the day-to-day challenges that refugees face — from language and not being able to express yourself, which is a very vulnerable position to be in, to finding the right kind of schooling, to facing everyday racism

🗣 When Tindy was at university there were some shocking incidents of students laughing at his accent and childish racism born out of ignorance and racist taunts in the street. Common enough, sadly

🗣 But he also received some fantastically open-hearted and open-minded support

The combination of help – from the @refugeecouncil, the local authority, the wonderful teachers – was very much part of his recovery

🗣 Tindy has flourished and grown in a million different ways

🗣 On a personal level it is important to say that Tindy has enriched the lives of me, my family, our friends, more than it’s possible to express in this short piece

🗣 On a more spiritual note, I’ll quote the human rights activist @HelenBamber to describe the work of the @refugeecouncil

"It is about finding our reward through the eyes of those to whom we owe nothing. It is about love"

Read Emma Thompson's moving words in full about her son, Tindy

thetimes.co.uk/article/charit…