International
Scottish Island welcomes Syrian refugees
About 10 Syrian refugees have been welcomed with open arms by residents of the Isle of Bute who believe the refugee families will have a positive effect on the community.
Read also: Suicide bomber kills 7 in Yemen
Reflecting on Europe’s response to the “refugee crisis” of 2015, Michael Russell, a member of the Scottish Parliament for the district of Argyll and Bute says.
“I don’t think it’s any surprise that Angela Merkel is Time’s Person of the Year: a slightly right-wing, conservative politician who has shown an extraordinary sense of leadership in saying ‘We have an obligation to help and we are going to help’,” Russell says. “Little wonder that many refugees want to go to Germany.”
But what Russell would like them to say now is “We want to come to Scotland.”
“There has been a strong feeling in Scotland that we should be doing more, and a frustration that we can’t,” he explains.
The island of Bute may seem like an unlikely destination for refugees but in early December, 10 Syrian families settled on the island with the hope of starting a new life and more are due to arrive in January.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fear
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...