THE spotlight has been put on the experiences of East Lancashire’s refugee community this week.

During Refugee Week, both Blackburn’s Asylum & Refugee Community (ARC) and Darwen Asylum & Refugee Enterprise (DARE) are releasing videos on the theme of ‘Imagine’.

The theme of Refugee Week is aimed at encouraging people to think about how they would like life to be.

Blackburn’s ARC Project has released a video of some of its clients, refugees speaking about how they’d like the world to be. The video is an emotive insight into what their lives were like before coming to the UK.

Ayman, a doctor from Syria, said: “Imagine you are punished with arrest and even execution only because you treat the wounded and peaceful protesters.”

DARE has worked with We Are Noise and Meeting Places on a special version of John Lennon’s song Imagine, which brings together the town’s refugee community.

Fifteen people, aged six to 70, attended individual recording sessions at We Are Noise’s studio in Darwen.

People from Iran, Myanmar, China, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and Iraq joined some of DARE’s volunteers on the recording.

The track is now being used to fundraise for DARE.