MORE ABOUT
FROM HERE ON

Routes to Safety

Every day, people around the world are forced to make an impossible decision - to leave their homes or stay and face war, persecution, human rights abuses and the effects of the climate crisis. Our right to seek asylum is protected by international law. Yet routes to safety are not guaranteed. People seeking refuge, including many thousands of children every year, face dangerous journeys to uncertain futures, persecution and discrimination.

Our partners Safe Passage International exist to fight for safe routes to be opened and work with refugee families to reunite in safety. They want to see the family reunion rules fixed so that children can safely reunite with family in the UK, countries working together to welcome refugees, the right to seek protection restored and an end to the hostile environment. We stand in solidarity with this work, including their current specific projects on supporting young people in Afghanistan, Gaza and Ukraine with family reunification.

While the majority of unaccompanied children claiming asylum in the UK supported by Safe Passage International are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria, children from many other countries and regions around the world are being displaced from their homes every day and in many cases this rarely reaches the mainstream news.

Our company of young performers come from a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities and experiences to create a truly global and authentically informed piece of work. Through From Here On, we use the unique power of the arts to shine a light on these experiences in all their complexity, making space for conversation, connection and empathy with the people forced to undertake unsafe journeys in the search for safety.

Safe Passage Now

In 2023, nearly 30,000¹ people were left with no choice but to make dangerous journeys to Britain on unseaworthy boats in search of a safer future, including over 4,500² young people. Nearly 3,000³ of this number were children making the journey on their own. Since 2018, more than 100 people, including lone children, have died attempting to cross the Channel, according to official figures. It’s likely more are still missing.

Since July 2023, when new anti-refugee laws were brought in by the previous government, people who cross the Channel, including children, are totally banned from ever getting asylum / protection in the UK – no matter the dangers they have fled. This means that thousands are unable to get the protection they need, whilst those who arrived before the Illegal Migration Act are still waiting years for a final decision on their claim - leaving thousands stuck in limbo and unable to plan their futures.

In this time of unprecedented global conflict, of increasing antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-immigration sentiment, the lessons we’ve already learnt from the past are being dramatically forgotten. So along with Safe Passage International, we’re asking how the experience of seeking sanctuary has evolved from the Kindertransport, what we’ve learned from this history, and why safe routes are not accessible today, not even for children.

The Kindertransport

We want to explore and learn from the Kindertransport as a symbol of hope, a symbol of the people’s power to make real change. The Kindertransport was made possible, not by the government, but by a coalition of local charities, grassroots organisations and ordinary citizens. It was an incredible act of empathy by citizens who acted - before the authorities did - to help thousands of Jewish children escape a life-threatening situation in Nazi-occupied Europe.

The Kindertransport was complex - not only did it face strong opposition, but newly arrived Kindertransport refugees were subject to discrimination as they began to create a life in the UK. Taking this nuanced and inspiring moment in history as a starting point, through From Here On we will look towards a new system for refugees built on empathy, welcome and community.

Creating Together

Our young performers are representative of over 20 different countries, whether through lived experience of seeking sanctuary in the UK or through a family history of migration: from Afghanistan to Somalia, from Burundi to Iran, from Germany to Hong Kong. We’ve brought these young people together to tell stories of safe passage through an extraordinary outdoor physical theatre production that connects us all and celebrates our shared humanity. And we’re supporting them to become changemakers in their own communities through our legacy programme to co-create their own talks and events.

The project is supported and has been informed by a wide range of partners and individuals, including an Advisory Group of people with lived experience including young people who have been through the UK asylum system, a Kindertransport refugee, an education specialist, an expert in communications particularly around migration and with lived experience of displacement, leaders of Jewish community and arts organisations, theatre directors and practitioners from a range of heritages and backgrounds, and local community leaders.

Good Chance and Gecko

Good Chance has always used art to bring diverse communities together, to emphasise our similarities and celebrate our differences. The Gecko identity is based on a deep interest in human beings and their extraordinary and challenging journeys to express feelings and form connections. We’re united by our love of showing the world on stage, and sparking new conversations about the complex urgent issues of our time.

Along with our many partners, we believe that sharing our experiences and unique artistic traditions offers a path to a new kind of coexistence. We believe that through theatre, we’re able to tell forgotten or previously untold human stories with nuance and complexity. Projects like From Here On that honour our shared humanity, are more important now than ever.

From Here On is a hopeful cry for solidarity and empathy that helps us imagine a safer future for us all.