The Spider-Man of the 18th

This week, we witnessed Mamoudou Gassama, a migrant from Mali, hit the headlines – with an extraordinary video of him scaling four stories up the side of a building in Paris to rescue a four-year-old child dangling from a balcony. This remarkable feat of resourcefulness and courage earned Gassama a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, who awarded him with French citizenship. Gassama has now been dubbed ‘the Spider-Man of the 18^th’, after the district the events took place in.

https://twitter.com/BillalRighi/status/1000506165082632192

This remarkable story of heroism has also put the immigration debate back in the news. Gassama’s actions highlight the immense assets that migrants can be. But, more importantly, we must remember that the benefits of migration are not limited to superhuman feats alone, but are reflected in the contributions they make across the board to the economy, services and communities.

For these benefits to society as a whole to be activated, an effective integration strategy is key. The 5^th of June 2018 is the deadline for consultation on the Government’s Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper.

The green paper and questions for response are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/integrated-communities-strategy-green-paper.

If you wish to feed your views into the FaithAction response, please email your comments to Anne at [email protected] .

About Dr Anne Smith

Creative English Lead Trainer

Dr Anne Smith is the Lead Trainer and Founder of the Creative English programme. In this role, she writes session plans and materials, trains facilitators and supports those delivering Creative English. She is responsible for developments of the Creative English programme, including variations to support Health Professionals and Creative English: Family Learning.

View all posts by Dr Anne Smith →