Supporting Refugee Women During COVID-19
Upbeat has been providing refugee women with a safe space to be themselves for many years, with mums and toddler groups, sewing initiatives, and lately a coffee morning all giving the opportunity for creativity and community - which many of these women lack upon arriving in the UK. After lockdown was announced in March 2020, we had to adapt and do things digitally. Along came our Zoom Women’s Support Group!
At Upbeat, one of our values is ‘we exist to empower’. It was important for us to ask the women what they wanted out of the sessions, so that it was their needs we were responding to, not our idea of their needs. We ran several consultations, and the feedback we received touched on a number of needs specific to refugee women, including emotional wellbeing, advice on immigration, and health and nutrition.
When the lockdown lifted in late 2020, we received funding to continue our work face-to-face. We were able to run a couple of wellbeing sessions under government guidance, but in January 2021 we were back onto Zoom, flipping pancakes and singing, as well as hearing nuggets of wisdom from the women themselves about anything from smoothies to belly-dancing!
We love our volunteers that have helped make this happen. Here’s what three of them had to say about it…
Michele
I’ve been involved in the women’s work at Upbeat for a few years now. It’s always been lovely meeting face-to-face with the ladies and their children. It’s been a time to make new friends, drink coffee together and enjoy a few short hours each week to chat about how we’re doing, what challenges we’re facing and have time to be creative together, whether that be painting, sewing, singing, dancing or cooking.
The challenges of lockdown have been felt strongly and we’ve had to explore new ways of ‘meeting’ together and feeling connected during such a difficult time. Switching to Zoom has not been without its challenges... Poor internet connection, entertaining children at home while we chat, supplying resources for everyone so that we can still be creative together. But we have adapted and learnt and grown and I feel we are stronger than ever through our shared journey.
It was amazing to have a few weeks in December meeting face-to-face again, reconnecting and helping each other with practical tips to surviving this time of loneliness, disconnection and uncertainty. Since then, our focus has turned towards our well-being, sharing our own struggles and top tips to overcoming these. How can we sleep better? How can we cope with loneliness? How can we eat better? How can we connect better to each other, ourselves and all that surrounds us?
We are all great teachers and have plenty to learn from each other. We are all learners in this journey. We all have something to give, something that will inspire others, something that can contribute to change, big or small... We all have each other.
“Thanks for giving me the chance to share what makes me happy. This group is a blessing.” — Women’s Support Group Participant
Marian
There was an air of palpable excitement on the first morning of the face-to-face Women’s Support Group with a queue forming outside Trinity Baptist Church, waiting for the doors to open. Careful planning had been undertaken to ensure the safety of the ladies, so the usual hugs were replaced by hand sanitising and temperature checks. But it still felt joyous to be able to see each other again.
The theme for the first sessions were on achieving good quality sleep, a very popular topic. The workshop started with learning some sleep-related vocabulary. Then Heather Spooner, Occupational Therapist and Upbeat Trustee, spoke on steps to take to improve your sleep quality. She ended the talk with some deep breathing exercises undertaken by all with great enthusiasm. The ladies were encouraged to continue these breathing exercise by WhatsApp reminders over the following few weeks.
The morning ended with a Christmas song Feliz Navidad led by Maddie (Upbeat Staff) on her guitar which reduced some of our Spanish-speaking ladies to tears. Sadly having only delivered the first 4 workshops the third lockdown commenced and the Women’s Support Group had to return once more to Zoom.
“It was helpful because we can share with other ladies different tips to face daily challenges and make me feel that I am not alone in this journey.” — Women’s Support Group Participant
Chris
I love meeting women from so many countries who join in with us each Thursday morning. For some it’s clearly a lifeline during lockdown and they never miss it. Others will come just as they are able - but whatever, each lady is totally welcomed! Even those with little English are often clearly engaged and once we’ve broken up into the breakout groups they will speak a little more and make good contributions. Together they reflect such a cross section of the communities around Derby who Upbeat aims to support.
For the more confident speakers, we have been able to learn from them! Whether how to stay healthy, which exercises are helping them to take care of their bodies - or even how to make a smoothie! We laugh a lot, share a lot and all too soon the precious hour is over for another week.
“I really liked the ideas that each of the girls said, but what I liked most was that of Michele was something motivating, walking in this pandemic time gives us calm inspiration and positive energy, thank you very much for existing for us and give us courage for God bless you every day.” — Women’s Support Group Participant
Want to support our work with refugee women through these challenging times? Click the buttons below to make a one-off or monthly donation. Thank you!