Now more than ever that pressing need for integration is served through the simple act of running
Only this is no race, or anything about a race for that matter. It’s about asylum seekers and refugees and Irish citizens coming together as one without fear and being visible about that too.
Turn on the news or read about the numbers. More than 4,500 refugees and asylum seekers arrive in Ireland since start of the year; Government is scrambling to find more places to house new arrivals; Anti-immigrant protesters block several Dublin streets. Last May, back at the Cork City Marathon, the Sanctuary Runners numbered 450, including 90 men and women from Ukraine, others more local, all running the classic distance together or as part of the team relay. They’ll be back in Cork this May in bigger numbers again, with ever more of those people living in fear, for safe accommodation or any sort of livelihood in this country or for the family and loved ones in the country they left behind.
One measure of all this is the 10,000 or so Sanctuary Runners T-shirts, in fetching sky blue and yellow logo, that have been handed out for free at running events over the last five years.
“It’s about doing something with refugees and asylum seekers, rather than for. And part of that natural evolution is to give some sanctuary to people who moved to Ireland for reasons beyond seeking asylum, or as refugees, but came here to find work, to find love. It’s key that we are every bit as welcoming to them, showing that respect, regardless of nationality or skin colour or legal status or creed.
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