What makes community work different from charity? How can those seeking to ‘do good’ avoid creating unintentional dynamics of us and them, of givers and receivers? In this episode, I discuss these questions with Liz Griffith, a community worker in Belfast, who works closely with refugees, asylum seekers, and victims of human trafficking in Northern Ireland. We talk about the current challenges facing communities in the time of the coronavirus, but our conversation ranges to include the moral tension of food banks, the problem of compassion fatigue, and the challenges of oppositional activism.

Resources:

http://www.belfastfriendshipclub.org/

https://flourishni.org/

Book recommendation: I Didn’t Do It For You, by Michela Wrong

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060780937/i-didnt-do-it-for-you/