Another event, another pastry

The 'Light Night' Christmas  event in the town hall with carols, Santa Claus, stalls and late shopping was an opportunity  to commence our new fund-raising drive to sponsor a second Syrian refugee family. The first family have been here for almost 5 months now and are doing well. The children are settled into school, the parents are making good progress with learning English and are able to  get around on public transport. Several other small towns in West Wales have welcomed refugee families and this will enable the possibility of a network of support and communication among them. However this seems a very modest effort compared to some  towns in Ireland which find themselves hosting much larger  groups of refugees. This sensitively made BBC film shows the arrival of 80 Syrians (of all ages) into a small rural Irish community and follows them as they settle into an empty hotel and begin to meet the town's inhabitants, not all of whom are favourable to the influx of  newcomers; others welcome them with warmth and empathy.

The picture shows the ghraybeh  Syrian cookies  I made today for the stall. Our Syrian dad assured me they were just right but he may have been flattering me. His wife made sambusek chicken pasties which proved very popular.