Wales<\/a> was really exciting,\u201d he said. \u201cCamping, festivals, those things are new for me. All those are first-time experiences for me, and yes, they all got me excited.<\/p>\n\u201cI enjoyed the music. I enjoyed the camping \u2013 before that I had some anxiety on how to camp, but the whole experience was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had also learned about Welsh culture, as well as some Welsh language, he said \u2013 and the communication skills he learned have helped him with his current work as an interpreter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe psychological benefit of participating in Green Man was that usually for people in my situation, sometimes there is bad news, and it\u2019s like a big chunk of negative energy would affect other parts of my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Before participating in the programme, Javid had had some bad news, which had stopped him doing things he enjoyed, such as running. \u201cAnd then participating in Green Man, it was again a big chunk of positive energy,\u201d he said, \u201cand it did help me to start running again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Refugees and asylum seekers from 52 different countries have trained at Green Man. Last year the festival had participants from Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, Pakistan, Syria, Nepal, Yemen and Ukraine. They are provided with everything they need for the festival, such as camping equipment and warm clothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, it\u2019s really like something to give you a fresh start and I\u2019m pretty sure when we return back home it will be very positive vibes. And you can spread this back,\u201d Olga, from Ukraine, said. \u201cThe crew entertainment was such good stuff and you felt like, you know, part of the crew. I think this group is very special \u2013 and it actually feels that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olga, from Ukraine, is a big fan of the positive vibes at Green Man. Photograph: Green Man Festival<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding to get such a good opportunity,\u201d Sophia, another Ukrainian participant said. \u201cSo it\u2019s quite a good idea, so you can contribute back. We are really happy not to get this for free but to contribute.\u201d<\/p>\n
While not every festival would provide a safe enough environment, Stewart said, Green Man did just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve worked at other festivals where this just wouldn\u2019t be possible because of the noise level, or behaviour issues, or whatever,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I think it does work at Green Man, so we\u2019ve had the best opportunity to enable that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart said the programme felt particularly important at a time when communities are so divided, and refugees and asylum seekers have faced hostility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know from feedback that some of them have felt quite intimidated by what they see, what\u2019s going on,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s horrible hearing some of the media coverage of these things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you meet people like this, they\u2019re trying to make the best of their lives. No one is going to be going through what they went through if what they\u2019re leaving is amazing. They just want to be accepted, and they can offer a lot as well, they can bring so much to our culture as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
M, from Egypt, said: \u201cWhen I first came here, my English wasn\u2019t great and I wasn\u2019t comfortable to speak with strangers, random people.\u201d Participating in the project had helped him to \u201cget out of my comfort zone to speak with people\u201d, he said, and he now has a job in a cafe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d never been to a music festival before in my life,\u201d he said, but he now sings in a choir and is \u201creally interested in the arts\u201d. He is returning this summer for the fourth time, and said: \u201cOne day maybe I will perform at Green Man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it\u2019s a wonderful thing to do, but it\u2019s also incredibly inspiring to see,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cJust from the point of view of seeing them out integrating with the rest of the team is a lovely thing, but also for the team as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, no one necessarily knows when they\u2019re part of the wider team that they\u2019re refugees or former asylum seekers unless they want to bring it up,\u201d she added. \u201cI think it\u2019s that feeling that they\u2019re just a kid in a field with everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many young people growing up in Britain, their first music festival is a rite of passage; watching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-675049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}