Aside from their nationality, what do these three public figures have in common? Jazz-pop singer Jamie Cullum, author and screenwriter Neil Gaiman, and Richard Rogers, the architect behind London’s Millennium Dome and Abu Dhabi’s Maryah Plaza.
All are British, but they also share a more interesting connection: “#refugenes.”
That’s the catchy hashtag for a new campaign by the charity Help Refugees, which raises funds and awareness for displaced people.
How do you get the public to view refugees differently – as individuals, not only as a troubling issue? One hugely effective method is to highlight the celebrities and high-achievers who have refugee roots.
Organisers spent nine months identifying and interviewing 13 public figures who on camera proudly announce their “refugenes”. They include entertainers and entrepreneurs, along with Lliana Bird, the campaigner who came up with the idea.
Bird is a radio DJ and actress who cofounded Help Refugees “by accident”, she says, “as we initially meant to just raise £1,000 [Dh4,877]. Now we’re in 27 camps across Europe”. Help Refugees is also “expanding into Lebanon, and funding work in Syria”, she adds.
Her own family history, however, offers a different example of displacement: that of prosperous Europeans. Bird’s grandparents were refugees from the Russian Revolution and it was while discussing her heritage that the idea for #refugenes was born.
“I was telling this story to a friend about my grandmother and she said: ‘Oh, you’ve got refugenes,’” Bird says.
“When I started looking at people who are figureheads in public life – architects or sportsmen, singers, designers, people who’ve really contributed in a very public way to society – and how many of them have also got ‘refugenes’, we found that a huge number had. And sometimes quite surprising people.”
The videos produced by the campaign reveal what is often the little-known lineage behind well-known figures, including the three mentioned above.
As a child, Rogers and his family escaped fascist Italy in 1939. Gaiman’s grandfather travelled to Britain from Poland, through Belgium, and remained stateless. And Cullum explains that he has a “complicated family history”, with grandparents who fled both Burma and Prussia.
“I had no idea about Jamie Cullum,” Bird says. “It’s so interesting that on both his mother’s and father’s sides he has this refugee heritage. And what was really nice, he genuinely felt so proud of it – and I feel the same about my grandmother.
“The word ‘refugee’ – I can’t imagine what it’s like to be someone who has this label put on them, when they define themselves in so many other ways.”
Among the other personalities who talk about their “refugenes” are singers Rita Ora and The Noisettes’ Shingai Shoniwa, whose families escaped Kosovo and Rhodesia respectively; and model and filmmaker Naomi Shimada, whose grandparents were evacuees who fled from Japan to Taiwan during the Second World War.
Another is social entrepreneur Elisa Sednaoui Dellal, whose family escaped Syria and Egypt. She tells how they helped build schools and hospitals along the way, and there are certainly plenty of stories of refugees making positive contributions to the societies in which they found themselves. This is a powerful retort to the view that displaced people are a burden. Bird’s own grandmother fostered a refugee child, among other charitable acts.
“I’m really proud to say that she was a refugee,” Bird says. “For me, what that represents is that she was so strong, a survivor, and it made her this incredibly compassionate person who appreciated her life and the chance she was given. So that’s something I hope was passed down to my mother and me.”
Some of the refugee tales are truly harrowing. Gaiman’s cousin, Helen, for example, who is now 98, narrowly escaped the Nazis.
“She hid – she wound up locked in a barn, with no food, for a week,” he says. “Mice ate her hair – she still talks about that.”
Helen went on to become a renowned holocaust expert in the United States.
More personal still is singer Yasmin Kadi’s testimony: she saw her father beaten and kidnapped by soldiers during the civil war in Sierra Leone, before the family escaped to Britain.
Initially homeless, she was eventually able to attend stage school and has worked with the likes of Mary J Blige – but was compelled “to sing and write about what happened”.
Surviving such adversity can provide remarkable drive to succeed, but what of the refugees of today?
“We’ve seen terrible psychological damage, especially for the unaccompanied children, and I don’t know that refugees have ever been treated as badly as we’re treating them today,” says Bird.
“I think it’s shocking the way that Europe, in particular – supposedly known for its tolerance and compassion, democracy and human rights – is treating people.
“I suppose in generations to come we’ll find out how it affects people, the potential damage that’s been done.”
The residual #refugenes message is that any of us could become refugees, even the relatively healthy and wealthy.
Bird hopes to continue the campaign by enlisting American personalities next but, for now, that Twitter hashtag is already encouraging a global community to share their untold stories and address an issue that is not going to go away. They’ve got #refugenes. Have you?
• Visit www.helprefugees.org.uk/refugenes for more details
artslife@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Racecard
6.35pm: The Madjani Stakes – Group 2 (PA) Dh97,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.10pm: Evidenza – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,200m
7.45pm: The Longines Conquest – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 2,000m
8.20: The Longines Elegant – Conditions (TB) Dh82,500 (D)
8.35pm: The Dubai Creek Mile – Listed (TB) Dh132,500 (D) 1,600m
9.30pm: Mirdif Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,400m
10.05pm: The Longines Record – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,900m
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Afghanistan fixtures
- v Australia, today
- v Sri Lanka, Tuesday
- v New Zealand, Saturday,
- v South Africa, June 15
- v England, June 18
- v India, June 22
- v Bangladesh, June 24
- v Pakistan, June 29
- v West Indies, July 4
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Courses%20at%20Istituto%20Marangoni%2C%20Dubai
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Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
more from Janine di Giovanni
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?
Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.
They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen
They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.
The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
