Women, sisterhood and friendship

You're in a foreign country. You don't speak the language, you know nobody. Are you safe? You don't know. You escaped your traffickers, for now. But if you leave the hostel, will they be waiting for you? The food is unfamiliar, and you keep vomiting. Your shoulder is so painful you can't lift your little boy. Still a toddler, his behavioural issues are getting worse.

Meet Laleh (name changed) from Iran at her first session of Touching Safe Ground. Tense, anxious, eyes on the ground. After 6 sessions, she told us, "I feel better." Initially, she had, "very bad mind, very worry. I think so much negative." Now, she says "I feel less stiff. I am more relaxed and confident. I can pick up my boy."

GCP offers weekly yoga and English wellbeing workshops for asylum seeker, refugee and migrant women at the Mission Practice doctors surgery, Bethnal Green. Thanks to their link workers, Laleh saw the GP, got her shoulder scanned and some talking therapy. Staff at the surgery are working on support for her son. She looks and sounds more confident, her English noticeably improved. 

More importantly perhaps, Laleh now has a friend. A woman with a toddler, living in the same temporary hostel, who speaks the same language. With so much in common, they'd never met.  Through Touching Safe Ground, they and their toddlers are now firm friends.

In celebrating International Women's Day, we celebrate the strength, courage and resilience of women around the world, and the female staff and volunteers who power this project. To help us keep building connections, donate by clicking the link.