AS winter finally makes its presence known and the early budding plants and trees recoil at the shock, perhaps the freezing temperatures will focus our thoughts on the cold reality faced by all those who have neither warmth nor shelter.

Thoughts, not only of the growing numbers of homeless and dispossessed in this county and country, but also of the rising numbers of unfortunates forced to flee their war-torn or unsustainable lives and countries.

The unhelpful and negative behaviour of a minority of supposed migrants in various towns and cities in Germany and other European neighbouring countries should not allow us to miss the bigger and more urgent picture of the countless number of innocents who desperately need our collective support and empathy.

It isn't just the physical aspects of safety, shelter and food, but a more fundamental emotional support and understanding that is needed in order that they and their plight may be better understood by the host nations and the various communities in which they will live.

If the thought of freezing temperatures and the constant threat of death from all manner of mayhem, delivered by the variety of combatants from all protagonists of a very 'un-civil' war in Syria, aren’t enough to melt your heart and offer what support you can, doesn’t the thought of children having to eat grass and cats and other un-edibles from a menu of desperation strike you right in the heart of your conscience?

The time for a sustainable ceasefire passed some years ago and the country is all but broken beyond repair. With its people scattered to the four winds, dead, dying or killing each other, what, I wonder, needs to happen before all the parties with vested interests, who have been fanning the flames of destruction, from both within, and from the sidelines of the war-torn country, are called to account?

Chemical weapons and their use, was supposed to be the 'red line'. Now it would appear that the lines are so fuzzy that anything goes, chemicals merely add to a caustic cocktail of human destruction and misery. Who gains from this carnage, besides the arms manufacturers and those with a penchant for death and destruction? Perhaps we collectively need to make our voices and opinions heard as it would appear that our collective silence is viewed by the powers-that-be as tacit complicity.

The statistics of pain, death and displacement are truly horrendous and they are ever growing. Once you take an overview of how many war zones and areas of the world cannot sustain their populations, whether it be due to war, pestilence, famine or fundamentalist ambition, the world seems wrought with pain and instability. Add to this heady mix, climate change and natural disasters and we can start to understand mankind's quest to find other planets to colonise. My sense is, it wouldn't take long for the brave new world explorers to 'mess up' whatever planet that becomes humanity’s new domain.

So, in the meantime, perhaps we should focus and refocus our collective efforts on salvaging whatever is left of this 'beautiful' home. To that end, we at Kandu Arts and all manner of empathic artists, educators and individuals from a whole cross section of the community will be collaborating on a raft of initiatives to help further the cause of peaceful resolution and explore the many challenging aspects of the current refugee crisis.

We, as a collective, aim to throw light on and further understanding of these issues whilst at the same time, paving the way for a safer and more empathetic welcome to those who will eventually come to live amongst us. Watch this space, or, better still, contact us and join us, offer what help you can. No longer can any of us afford to sit on the sidelines and watch as the 'game' descends into a 'no turning back' spiral of destruction.