Around the WORLD
The Termly Newsletter for the Friends and supporters of Salusbury WORLD
Issue 1 Autumn Term 2006
Juliet Stevenson says yes!
Holta Loku * speaks to our new patron
"I have to believe that the British people want to live in a country where they are proud to offer refuge to those who need it"
I meet Juliet Stevenson again after almost seven years. Much has changed since then. I first met Juliet at the opening of Salusbury WORLD in 1999. I was 10 years old and had just arrived in Britain form Kosova. I clearly remember watching Juliet release balloons into the air, symbolizing new hope. Since then, the centre has provided invaluable help to many families, mine included.
Juliet is Salusbury WORLD"s Patron. Asked for help when the centre first opened, she says, "It was such an imaginative idea, there was every reason in the world to say yes!"
Her interest in refugees was heightened by her stage role in "Death of a Maiden", where she played a victim of political torture. Since then, she has become involved with Amnesty International and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
She says that she is "very proud to live in a country that offers refuge to people that need it, and I fight very hard for it to stay that way."
She is a warm, welcoming person and I feel instantly comfortable when I tell her my story. She responds by saying: "It"s wonderful to hear a story like yours where you are doing so well in school, embracing opportunities and really seizing the day."
She is clearly passionate about her work, family and about refugees, having herself experienced the need to adapt to changes when travelling during her childhood.
There is nothing pretentious about her although she is a successful actress, and I get the sense that she genuinely cares about the causes that she has been involved in.
Juliet welcomed Holta into her home.
And I think that Salusbury World is a great cause. My family relied on the centre in the early days; I was taught English and got the chance to make friends. My parents received crucial help and advice. We are grateful to people like Juliet, Carol Munro, Nina Chohda, Doris Bancroft and those who funded Salusbury WORLD for making such a project possible.
* Holta was one of the first members of the Salusbury WORLD After School Club. Since then she has gone on to achieve 11 GCSEs, most of them A or A*, her Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, and was accepted as a member of the National Youth Theatre. She was voted Head Girl at St. Marylebone School for Girls, and plans to study law. And she's a great laugh!