City of Sanctuary
The above article from The Guardian, “City of Sanctuary”, provides an example of how the existence of networks and the community that they provide can significantly improve circumstances for individuals across nations. The City of Sanctuary network is an organization in the UK with the goal of welcoming refugees currently fleeing persecution and conflict in their home countries. Through providing food, shelter and other charitable acts to these people, City of Sanctuary attempts to provide safe spaces to those who desperately need them. With the main purpose of aiding the many people who have recently been seeking safety in Europe, their network has been growing considerably in terms of individual volunteers, with upper estimates at 200 joining the group per day. City of Sanctuary has also recently increasing been adding new cities to the fold considering “this week the organisation, which has groups in 40 cities and towns, has received inquiries from organisations in Malvern in Worcestershire, Lancaster, Medway in Kent, the islands of Orkney, and Derry in Northern Ireland wanting to join the network”.
This kind effort by individuals looking to provide a warm welcome to people who have experienced incredible hardship definitely encapsulates the essence of a network. The group, united only by a common desire to help by any means necessary has grown exponentially over time while also inspiring more and more people to join the group. Their efforts, including acts of assistance like “cooking, giving haircuts, doling out advice to new arrivals”, have sparked significant responses from charities as well as individuals, creating links and edges to new charities, communities and even cities through the efforts of individual volunteers informing other areas about the efforts of City of Sanctuary. This example of a network decisively shows the influence that 1) a uniting force, 2) common goals and 3) widespread communication can have on entire groups of people.