Black and White T-shirt, not a black and white issue.

The Irish are rightly famous for their welcome.

For most people this wholeheartedly extends to refugees arriving at these shores for protection from war and persecution. However for some people this is not so simple an issue.

Protests, violence and cruel placards are the hard end of this. While racism, cruelty and violence are unacceptable, the answer also can’t be shutting people down, which is where it gets more challenging. Dialogue and trying to understand a range of experiences is ever more important when we look at the increasing fractured, oppositional political environments in the U.K and USA.

So what’s the answer at a societal level, how do we avoid this? We think it’s helping to reframe people's concerns from ‘I support refugees BUT…(list of real issues)’ to ‘I support Refugees AND, we need housing for all and now.’

We need to listen to people who are hurting and fighting for survival, whether these be Dubliners or Ukrainians. We need to campaign for refugee inclusion alongside campaigning for housing as a right for all. Let’s make housing the next key election issue.

In our work we see these two sides of this issue in real time. We work with marginalised communities and see up close what generational under-privilege looks like. It’s a fear of not being able to pay for a school trip or feed the family the day before pay day, not having the money to visit a relative in prison, or a very real fear of becoming homeless despite working in a job for the last five years. This everyday stress eats away at any sense of wellbeing, so it’s hardly surprising that a scarcity mindset where there is not enough resources becomes the lens through which every issue is viewed. Under this stress the natural response is to fight for one’s family and for one’s own survival. This is same instinct that a person has as they grab a child’s hand and step onto a boat to

seek safety in some unknown land.

Here at We Make Good this commonality of human experience is a positive. People from some of the most disadvantaged backgrounds who are rebuilding their lives, after being in addiction or prison, work shoulder to shoulder with people who have come to Ireland as a refugees. As Mariam says ‘At first our stories seem different, but once we get to know each other, we learn that we have so much in common. Now we are a community! We support each other to reach our goals’. ‘I'm learning about different cultures,’ says Nadine, who has overcome addiction. ‘There is no discrimination here, no labels. We work as a team. It's the family I always wanted and it's my safe haven.’

Let’s challenge our default scarcity mindset, which is frequently amplified in the media, and which creates winners and losers. With different decisions (for example: buy local, progressive taxation, policies that focus on integration.. and there are 100s more) we can increase the pie for everyone. Research is also clear that welcoming refugee is good for the overall economy (see references below). However the biggest reason to welcome those who need our help is that by extending our idea of community we are enriched.

We are more human, and this at its most simple, makes us happier.

Caroline Gardner, CEO We Make Good