As a child of refugees, Patricia has always been disturbed by dislocation, violence and injustice and intrigued by identity. Victims of war, ecological disaster and desperate poverty are forced to migrate and to do their best to survive and sometimes to reinvent themselves.Fluent Russian gave her access to the richness and complexity that is Russia, as described in the Sketches, and a part-time study of Arabic at Sussex University allowed her to get by when serving as an ecumenical accompanier among refugees and displaced people in Palestine and Israel. Reflections from this experience were published in Olives and Barbed Wire.Perestroika was a fertile time for the development of civil society in Russia: Patricia worked on hospice development and helped with the establishment of NGOs to support vulnerable people; she also organised workshops in peace education and management. This was also a time of dislocation as large numbers of migrants fled from wars and persecution, or returned home after years of exile and found someone else living in their houses. Based in Moscow, Patricia travelled widely meeting all manner of people.Inspired by William Penn, an early Quaker, who said that our task is to mend the world, not retreat from it, Patricia continues to work for a cleaner, greener, fairer, more inclusive and peaceful world.
