Agora Trust in Hamilton Continues Long-time Support of Refugee Services
Four years ago, Agora Trust was formed by members of Hamilton’s City Bible Church with the goal of putting the values of loving one’s neighbour into practice. Over the past two years, the trust has raised funds for over 13 charities, including contributing thousands of dollars to Refugee Services Waikato office and making possible a recent series of art workshops for refugee background youth in the area.
“It all started with a desire to be really practical in our faith,” says Agora director Campbell Forlong (shown at right with friend and former refugee from Colombia Aberlado). “We wanted to put the call to love your neighbour into action and to show that love to our community.” In 2007, City Bible Church formed Agora Trust, Agora being the name given to the marketplace in ancient Greece. After purchasing their current property on Kent Street, they decided to open Café Agora. “We wanted to provide a place where people could come together, an open door for everyone in the community,” says Campbell.
Every month for the past year and a half, Café Agora has chosen a charity to support by donating 50 cents from each hot drink purchased during the month. “It started right after the disaster in Haiti. That was our first cause,” says Campbell, “but after that one, we decided instead to focus our fundraising locally. We’ve now supported over 13 different charities, and each month, we usually raise between $1,500 and $2,000 for the receiving charity. StreetWorks and Refugee Services are the two charities that we’ve decided to support in an ongoing way, and we feel like we’ve connected really well with them.”
Over the month of June, Café Agora collected the usual 50 cents-a-cup in an effort to fund art workshops for refugee background youth that subsequently took place during the July school holidays. “We learned that Refugee Services was trying to decide whether or not it had the funds to organise the art workshops again this year, as they had done last year,” says Campbell. “One of our key values is creativity, and we really wanted to see the art workshops happen, so we decided to choose Refugee Services for our June charity and provide funding for the workshops.”
The programme, called “This is my story”, invited refugee background youth to create art that represented their own personal journeys. After the workshops were completed, the youth invited their family and friends from the wider community to a professional display of their creations. “It’s really amazing to see their work,” says Campbell. “What we’ve found is that the art they create is heavily influenced by their home countries but that it also often has some of the things they love most about New Zealand. It’s a real combination of both places.” He adds, “We’re looking forward to exhibiting the art in the café for the next month.”
Campbell and Café Agora plan to continue supporting Refugee Services in the coming years as the relationship continues to develop. “Our slogan is ‘Where community begins’ and all the former refugees in our area are very important to our community,” he says. “I’m really enjoying meeting each new family who arrive here and seeing them connect with us and with the wider community.”
Rachel O’Connor, Refugee Services Waikato Manager, is extremely grateful for the relationship with Agora Trust. “Our community partners are key to what we do,” she says. “The support they provide to the refugee background communities in our area, not just financially but also emotionally and creatively, has a huge impact on successful resettlement, and we couldn’t do our work without that support.” 
For Campbell, his favourite parts are the friendships and the little moments that help him feel like he’s making a difference in the community. “Recently I went to a Powhiri to welcome the new arrivals to Hamilton,” he says. “I had been fortunate enough to be in Mangere about four weeks before, and while I was there, I had met a Colombian man. Even though he didn’t speak any English, and I didn’t speak any Spanish, he remembered me. And when I saw his face recognise me in the welcoming group, it was really cool. I thought to myself, ‘this is really worthwhile.’ For him to see a familiar face, to see a friend, it’s really important. That’s what it’s all about.”
Photos from art workshops credit:
Sokun Grimmer