1st nov - first night - peace festival begins

I have survived my first night in New Union Street, alongside Tim. Very mild night, lots of part goers out til very late as it was Halloween but managed to sleep pretty well. You know you are vulnerable and keep a certain alertness when you hear someone coming your way, especially when you realise they are drunk, but managed to sleep again when they had passed.

I am sleeping out through choice though which makes the experience very different from if I had nowhere to go - and I had warm clothes and warm sleeping bag. The big difference is that I did not feel excluded from society. Peace involves inclusion. As the Peace Festival begins it is good to think about how to make our city more inclusive - where no-one is left outside.

And thinking globally about peace - war causes homelessness big time. Some people spend all their lives in refugee camps. Bombs destroy the fabric of houses but other tools of war like rape force women to leave their communities and their home. People sometimes flee their homes through fear.

Some of those people are now in Coventry and might again find themselves homeless. 70% who come here in search of sanctuary are refused asylum and told to go back home. Most of them are too frightened to return and often their country refuses to take them. They become destitute.

I have just finished speaking with Tecle who is in Campsfield House near Oxford. At least he has a roof over his head but he is in a removal centre and has been for 8 months. They are like prisons except you are allowed to make phone calls.He had been refused asylum and was trying to escape to the Netherlands to be with his wife and daughter and got caught. They never send people back to Eritrea because the Government refuses to recognise anyone as Eritrean. He has no idea how long they will keep him in detention.

When I got back this morning I helped Alan finish the big detention cage we are having in Shelton Square on Tuesday - 11.00 - 2.30 Come down to see it and find out more about detention. The event is called 'Liable to be detained' as that is what every asylum seeker has on their papers to remind them that they can be detained at any time.

On the first day of the Peace Festival I am thinking about war and about refugees and about other homeless people in Coventry who are excluded from society for a variety of reasons.

There can be no real peace while people are homeless.

If you want to do something about homelessness come to the meeting in the Friends Meeting House in Hill Street, Coventry at 9am at the end of this 14 day sleep out.