I was born in North East England, lived in Yorkshire and I’ve been in London for about 30 years.  The words “Ey up” remind me of home.

My happiest memory, oh gosh -  the year I spent travelling around Africa in the late 80’s. I should probably say getting married last year, actually.

I was in another choir but to be honest I’m getting a little bored of singing just opera. I came to a Citizens of the World choir concert and listened to it and thought “that’s wonderful” and now here I am.

I’m hoping it will be a way of broadening my contacts as it were. I don’t mean professional contacts but I mean the people that I meet.  I like meeting new people and different cultures and places. I love travelling but this is a way of meeting people from all over the world. I’m hoping that the choir is a way for refugees to come together and feel more at home here.

The biggest surprise I’ve had in the UK was moving to London, and I moved to London 30 years ago to be with Helen. I thought I’d try it for six months and thirty years later I’m still here and still enjoying it.

I run my own business, managing nature reserves and I want to continue that, take on new projects and learn new things and also to go travelling again later in the year.

I’m 58 now so in 10 years time I'll be in my late 60’s so I'll be thinking about retirement - but I’m not sure I ever will. I want to continue learning about wildlife, which is what I do.

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My name is Annie, and I am from Ukraine. Like many Ukrainians, I had to leave my home in 2022, and I moved to the UK.
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Music has always been an great part of my life. My mum is a professional musician, so I grew up surrounded by music. I studied opera in Ukraine and later continued my musical journey in the UK, focusing on contemporary vocal performance and exploring new styles.
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I joined Citizens of the World Choir in 2023 after quite a long break from singing. Becoming part of the choir gave me the confidence and motivation to return to music again. It offered me not only the opportunity to represent my culture by performing Ukrainian songs, but also a strong sense of community, understanding, and support. I met many kind and inspiring people and many of them have life experience similar to mine.
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I love being in nature and travelling to beautiful places such as the sea and the mountains. Wherever I go, I look for peaceful parks, beaches, and natural landscapes. Nature helps me feel calm, recharged, and connected to myself.
For me, music and nature are the two most beautiful and powerful things in the world.

I was born in Yorkshire and I lived in Wales where I went to university and then I lived in the Lake District and I’ve been in London for 30 years .

The smell of grass reminds me of home because when I was a small child where we lived there was some open land with daisies and one of my earliest memories was making daisy chains.

My favourite animal is a dormouse because they are cute and they sleep all through the winter and when they wake up they’ve lost weight so I think that’s the most amazing thing.

I meet a lot of people who have had a lot of trauma and a lot of struggle and grief in their lives and when I’m working with them they are so resilient and determined to make the best of their lives and it puts my world in perspective. We can get quite depressed about how the world is but actually I look at the other people I’m working with and their spirit and hopefulness and I think “come on, get a grip”.

Do you know what, I’m really happy when I sing because I forget everything else.

I love singing and I think it helps you, its good for your well being and your soul and it stops you thinking about your the other things in your world that might be stressing you out. You can just be joyous.

I think the choir a wonderful place of sanctuary for all of us, a place of joy and friendship and hope.

At the gig at Westminster Hall for the UN I was just pinching myself, I can’t believe I’m here in this amazing place listening to all these influential people and singing on the stage.

It’s not exactly unexpected but I came to London because I wanted to have a more cosmopolitan experience but I don’t think I ever quite imagined how many different nationalities I would meet. That continues to amaze me how amazingly diverse London is in terms of people, food and fashion.

I just hope that peace and good sense will out and we will end up in a less unpredictable time for people

I wish people that come here would get instant asylum and would be able to work. The system is too hostile.

Be nice!

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The choir celebrates each and every one of us. Some of us have been rejected all of our lives and can often feel misunderstood. So, when a group of people come together and celebrate you it’s really special, very personal.

The choir sang Happy Birthday to me at one of our workshops and it was the first time I’ve experienced that because of my background. I felt so welcomed.

Singing takes away the pain, anxiety and stress. It’s the most beautiful feeling: like when you are tired and you rest. Or if you have a headache and you take a painkiller. I have better energy to face my problems and am reminded ‘not to suffer alone’.

I came to the UK for safety. I have been through a lot. Being together, playing musically with my choir friends, connects me back to the very best of my earliest memories in Angola. I didn’t have my parents because of the war. I just had my childhood friendships around me in the orphanage. I thought it was normal then, but we were pretty much on our own, just playing. I value the love that being in the choir brings.

You don’t have to speak the same language, but you can get together through music.

I don’t have so many friends at the moment. Choir is a family from different ethnicities and therapeutic in such a way I just come out. I’ve gone to places I didn’t know I could go, like Westminster. I hope we can get more outings so more people can hear our message of love.

I’m kind of having a change of mentality.

I'd love to become a biomedical scientist and a leader. Be a lecturer and  groom other people into microbiology. I’d like to do something in a women’s group, especially women from my own group minority and promote wellbeing and tell them they can be somebody if they don't give up.

Love is a verb, not a noun - that is what Citizens Of The World choir has been doing, sending a message of love and oneness to all.

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Being creative helps me communicate, express myself and feel closer to God, especially if I’m down. My favourite choir songs are Siyahamba and Ase. Siyahamba is not in my language, but it’s so joyful! Ase is a song that brings me closer to nature and strengthens my belief that when I hope for something, I will find it. I never expected that people would sing with me in Yoruba - my mother tongue - here in the UK!

When a journey starts, you can never say for sure where it will end. It has not been easy. So many people that I started the journey with have passed away. This is not where I thought I’d be, but I’m still here and it’s getting better by the day. I’m grateful for where I am today and all those who have journeyed with me.

Being a Citizens of the World singer reminds me that I am not here like a snake passing on the rock without trace. I have a trace now and I’ve done some remarkable things, together with my choir.
I like to watch the sun rise and set. When the weather is good and I have someone beside me, I like to move freely together chatting and sharing thoughts and feelings. But I don’t like walking alone in the wet grass early in the morning! The choir gives me space to meet new people and share my culture and ideas.

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The choir has taken me to lots of places and given me so much exposure. It makes me feel accepted. When you first arrive as an asylum seeker, it can be really hard to find the UK’s beautiful places and to be able to reach them. I have been to some beautiful places with the choir that I wouldn’t have been able to reach otherwise. It has helped me to feel accepted, to accept myself, and to have confidence and pride in who I am.

When we go to sing in beautiful natural places I feel so connected with myself. I loved climbing Glastonbury Tor and learning the names of the plants and watching the long grasses.

Before I started in the choir I had relocated to a new borough and I didn’t know anybody. Through the workshops I’ve met so many new people and I’ve learnt how to write a song and compose music! I love the vocal warm ups. I am taking what I’m learning in the choir and sharing with my church choir.

Even my English is improving! My accent is getting clearer. Before when I spoke, people couldn’t understand me. Vocal warm up helped me learn how to speak from the front of my mouth and how to use my tummy to support my breathing.

Citizens of the World Choir is where strangers meet and connect and create a family. We have become a family despite our differences. We listen to and support each other. We feel connected and loved and so it has become another home far from home. It’s a refuge.

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My name is Karen. I was born in Jamaica. Growing up there was a lot of development going on, but nature was on my doorstep. I sit on the doorstep looking out over the sugarcane fields. My Dad would go out into the middle of the field to get the very best, juiciest sugarcane for me. I had mango trees and coconuts, fresh fruit easily within reach. Here in the UK, I can look out of my door and see the lake that feeds the Thames estuary. I watch the swans and the ducks, just doing they own little wildlife ting. It makes me feel motivated. It’s cold, so having nature right there really helps. I don’t need to walk too far.  Leaving the house is a challenge with my disability, but when I came to the choir I felt very welcomed. The choir is like a warm family. People help me find my chair so that I am comfortable. When we went to perform at Glastonbury we had to camp. My choir friends helped me to feel comfortable, going the extra mile and making sure I had a suitable bed to sleep on! I felt loved and appreciated. Singing on Azizam was a dream come true! My family was so surprised and delighted. This gave me so much joy. Being part of the choir helps me to push through my pain and come outside of the house. The more I come out and meet people, the more I feel loved and the better my wellbeing is.

Being a performer means taking risks. On the stage you are sharing your skills, but you also open your heart. I am giving energy to the audience and they are giving energy back to me. You feel like a wave, full of water!

Music is everything to me. I was a professional musician in Ukraine. I taught my students to harness their emotion and connect with the audience. When you feel these good vibrations everyone is renewed.

Arriving in the UK as a refugee was hard. You have to find your place in society and learn a new language. Music doesn’t need an interpreter. It is powerful and can unite every nation.

When I performed with Citizens of the World Choir at the Barbican in London, I fully immersed myself in my true identity as a musician. I played Brahms Waltzes as part of the programme. It’s emotive and open music and the audience response was vibrant and beautiful. This combination of bringing a good composer to a great crowd of people took me to the heavens as a pianist! I realised I can fulfil my potential here.

I love how multi-cultural our choir is. I’ve found my place in a community where I can share my feelings and make music together with others. Don’t stop dreaming - that’s my motto!

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