Now, the backstory.
Mohammad Omar, AKA The Dream, from Sudan and I first met in Calais Refugee camp in 2015. I was in Calais as a volunteer and in my day job I was leading the Social Innovation Lab (SILK) in UK regional government at Kent County Council.
Omar and Emma sharing ginger coffee in Calais, France, winter 2015.
When Omar shared his poetry, I listened. The language of poetry has the power to reach audiences when there are no words. With his permission, I shared his poetry in London at Reframing Migration, a SILK partnership event with the international Design for Innovation and Sustainability Network.
Six months later when Omar arrived in UK and claimed for Refugee Status on UK soil, we reunited as the Happiness All Around Collective. We were gifted a military catering tent from 1956 which we repurposed for peace and named The Welcome Tent. Food - Recipes of HOPE - became our universal language in a roaming community kitchen and safe space “we could all call home”.
It was the beginning of an extraordinary journey. Over the following years, The Welcome Tent travelled more than 16,000 miles across Europe—from Calais to Greece—collecting recipes, friendships and stories that would eventually become Recipes of HOPE.
In 2019, the humanKINDER team was awarded a global design prize from the European Academy of Design and Design Indaba, recognising how this work addresses the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Coming full circle - celebrating in The Welcome Tent with the community in Folkestone, Kent after being awarded an international design research prize by Design Indaba and The European Academy of Design, 2019.
A decade on and I received an invitation from Omar inviting me to Paris from my home in the French Alps, to attend the OECD 2026 Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy.
Omar and Emma sharing Ginger Coffee in Calais, winter 2015; Sharing Chai in Paris, October 2026; At the Eiffel Tower, Paris, October, 2026; Attending the OECD Global Forum on Building Trust and Reinforcing Democracy, October 2026.
