Scottish refugee charity ‘won't shut up, it will show up'

The National

19 hours ago

Selina Hales founded Refuweegee, 10 years ago this December. The charity aims to 'provide a warm welcome to forcibly displaced people arriving in Glasgow' through the provision of welcome packs and emergency packs.
Hales is experiencing an even busier week for Refuweegee than normal: 'Every week at Refuweegee is a busy week but whenever you're asking people to stand up, to get involved, to vote with their feet, to be present, to pay attention, it tends to be a lot busier.
'Over the past week, we've had protests, we've had events, we've had horrific news stories, we've had our usual 200-plus people through our door each day looking for critical support and the picture, the landscape, just seems to be getting more and more difficult for people.
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'Normally when we talk about things being more difficult for people, we're talking about the refugee community and those we work with, but actually, it's getting more difficult to peacefully protest, to work in this sector, to get people to approach things with kindness.
'It's terrifying that kindness actually appears to now be becoming radical.'
Refuweegee was involved in events for the Refugee Festival Scotland which ran between June 13-22. The festival is 'always a busy time' for them.
The charity participates in different protests for two main reasons, which Hales says are the need 'to show up for the community that we work with' and for the positivity brought by 'connecting with other people physically on the streets' which 'really helps when you're feeling overwhelmed.'
Hales recounts a horrific experience at the Aye Welcome Refugees march earlier this month.
(Image: NQ)
'While with my daughter, I had to tell a man that it was entirely inappropriate to follow me and my daughter, shouting at me that refugees are 'dogs' and 'should be sent back home',' she explains.
'I've never encountered that before, so that's the change that I can see – even though it's still a minority of people, there's a boldness in their hatred and their racism and their Islamophobia and their xenophobia, and that is not pleasant.'
Refuweegee deals with people in a range of different circumstances. 'Some people who have fled hate crime, who heard that Glasgow is a safer place, have come up from England,' Hales says.
'We have people who have literally just arrived in the UK. Some people who have been waiting in the housing system for months.'
Hales outlined a major problem with the asylum system. People who 'have been moved out of asylum accommodation and are now homeless because they're waiting for their permanent accommodation'.
'At the beginning of Refuweegee, there wasn't a gap there, when somebody left asylum accommodation, they were moved straight into their permanent accommodation,' she adds.
'You can have somebody who's been in the asylum system for three or four years, who's stayed in a residential flat paid for by the Home Office.'
Their successful asylum claim should feel like a positive step for integration into the community, but Hales states that instead 'they get evicted from their accommodation' and are left to wait on housing lists.
Refuweegee is not afraid to tell it as it is and to take firm stances.
The charity has dropped partnerships with companies over them being 'complicit' in crimes committed by Israel. 'BDS [the Boycott, Divestments, Sanctions movement] is the only way for us to move forward comfortably in ourselves,' she says.
Refuweegee has had corporate partnerships over the years where staff working for a company will take part in the services that it offers, but the charity 'will not be used as a corporate tickbox' while an 'organisation invests in Israeli weaponry'.
'We've walked away from very big financial corporate relationships,' Hales adds.
She makes the distinction between the corporations and their staff, recognising how difficult it could be for an individual to leave a corporation just because they disagree with it, and urges those employees to still get involved, provided that Refuweegee will not be used to promote a corporation.
Refuweegee has also had different organisations turn away from it, including 'two private schools' who disengaged from the organisation 'because of pro-Palestinian posts' after having pressure put on them, Hales says.
She maintains that Refuweegee is very careful about the content that it posts and that it stands by it.
Speaking about the organisation's reaction to ongoing news stories including those on the conflict between Israel and Iran, with US involvement and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, Hales says that 'I have never felt so concerned about my team – because of the news because of the witnessing of a genocide', and the people they meet 'whose families they're watching for in those videos'.
In speaking to Hales, the message from Refuweegee that stands out is the need to 'show up'.
What does that mean? Speaking about 'attacks on the arts', she points to Kneecap, saying 'that is how you show up'.
'It is glorious and beautiful and I take my hat off to them. I've just bought tickets to see them in London so that says it all,' she laughs.
'The media response to the genocide we are witnessing, predominantly, has been utterly shameful.
'The celebrity and public figure response is also utterly shameful. Just show up for individuals as human beings, look at what you are witnessing and say you are utterly horrified. Show up.'
'I think [Kneecap] have done a spectacular job and I couldn't be prouder and I think with the government response and the banning of them from playing in certain places and the attack on the arts, protesting has become unsafe.
'You can feel the shift and the tension, it's become unsafe.
'Look at what's happened at the CCA [the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, where there was a pro-Palestine protest last Tuesday], the police response to a peaceful protest in an arts organisation around something very clear, none of it has been violent, it has been open book, the police response to that was vicious.
(Image: Newsquest)
'We need creative spaces that we can show up in.'
Citing the UK Government's decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, she adds: 'The criminalising of organisations who are there to stand up … I firmly believe that we are all Palestine Action.'
Hales also speaks on her belief that Refuweegee itself is penalised for taking a stand: 'I feel like we're pushing against the tide. The Government response is so horrific and vile.
'The community engages with us really well, individuals across Glasgow and Scotland can see what we're all about, that we're a complete open book.
'They can trust in us to say what needs to be said, share the information that we've got, to educate and to show up but that works against us in terms of Scottish Government and council funding, we receive neither of those things and I firmly believe that is because we won't shut up.'
From the beginning of Refuweegee, Hales has been asked the question of where she wants the organisation to be in the next five years.
Her answer has always been the same: she doesn't want Refuweegee to exist in five years.
'The ultimate aim is to not be needed,' she explains.
While there is a need for Refuweegee, however, Hales is clear about the role of its team: 'What we do for people is really simple, it's just holding space.
'It's just joining up, for every ask, there's always somebody willing to give and it's lovely to be in the middle of that.
'Every day can be different. There are some things that are routine but when dealing with people, you don't know what will be thrown at you.
'Some days you'll just have the best intentions of getting stuff done and then a trafficked 17-year-old will walk through the door saying 'I need help'.'
In March 2025, Refuweegee moved to a new space in George Square, which it has used to create a space for people which allows them to access the services offered by the charity, but also have social spaces, a children's play area and a prayer area.
Hales concludes: 'There's loads of ways to get involved in Refuweegee, from fundraising, to volunteering, to letter-writing, to coming and hanging out in our space.'