Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah paid a visit to Belfast's Conway Education Centre on Tuesday October 3rd, where she met with asylum seekers, refugees, members of the local community, and Belfast City Council representatives to learn about the experiences of displaced people in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to a group of asylum seekers, including children, from the Middle East and Africa, Queen Rania emphasized the crucial work done by the city and people of Belfast to support their refugee community, saying that their continued dedication demonstrates their "generosity of spirit."
Her Majesty praised the Conway Education Centre for giving a lifeline to refugees and asylum seekers by providing a venue where people can develop friendships, rediscover their sense of community, and find "a new lease on life."
She also called successful integration of refugees into resettlement countries as "difficult to quantify," because it provides them with a sense of dignity and belonging, which helps them become productive members of their new communities.
Conway Education Centre began offering English language classes, a homework club for primary and secondary school students, and an annual summer school for refugee families in 2015 to support the city's rising refugee community. The programmes, which are run by teachers and trained volunteers, aim to assist refugees in integrating into the community.
Conway has developed a capacity-building programme to help adult migrants build on their existing abilities and increase their independence, based on input from refugees who have taken its courses. The Belfast City Council-supported programme provides recognised English language, ICT, and advocacy training, as well as parenting classes.
Members of the Art Route Collective, a project founded in 2016 to promote creative and cultural activities within Belfast's refugee and asylum-seeking community, attended the conference in addition to participants in Conway's many refugee programmes.
Look Details:
For this event she rewore her Stella McCartney soft cropped sweater in Green. Paired with her Jennifer Chamandi Bespoke Lorenzo 105 Navy Suede and Elaphe Pumps
