To mark International Women’s Day 2022, we held a short and lively event where refugee and asylum-seeking women shared their creations.

Members of our writing, photography and drama groups shared poetry, their thoughts on womanhood and women who inspire them.

The event was moving and uplifting, and we were so pleased to be able to come together to celebrate the refugee and asylum-seeking women in our network. Thank you to all who joined us!

We hope you enjoy their wonderful creations!

Writing Group

Our writing group is a welcoming space where women spend time together writing on a different theme each week. The inspiration for each piece can come from anywhere – an object, experience, thought, scent or colour. Women are encouraged to use their hearts and imagination to create their piece, whether it’s a poem, prose or a short story. The group then share their work to learn from and to inspire one another.

To mark International Women’s Day, the group wrote pieces on womanhood.

Because I am a woman

A woman is like

 

Photography project

Our photography project was all about photography, friendship and conversation. Each week the group would come together to chat about their lives, look at photos, learn new techniques and to take their own pictures.

The finished results were beautiful, personal photographs accompanied by poetry.

During our event, Angela shared her poem about self-love.

Your basket life

 

Drama group

Our drama group meet weekly at the Southbank Centre. We currently have two classes, beginners drama and our playwriting group for women with more experience. Our drama group isn’t just about performance, theatre and writing. It’s about building women’s confidence and skills, making friends and having fun.

As ‘Marie’ told us, “Drama makes me feel loved. I feel happy. I don’t feel lonely anymore.”

During the event members of our drama group spoke about the women who inspire them, with a reminder that we can all inspire each other every day too!

The women who inspire me…