Thank you so much for the beautiful design Mareena De Guzman Khawar!
Over the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a group of amazing South Asian women that have co-led on a project exploring the impact of the pandemic and the current health inequalities that exist. As part of this work, Voices of Colour & Expert By Experience launched a series of Chai and Chat sessions across the Borough of Ealing. These spaces have been integral in bringing together different communities of South Asian women in their local areas to share, discuss and learn from one another’s journeys. As a result of this work, we had the privilege to interview a series of South Asian women that have shared their experiences of health, community, and the joy they have found in creating a space for themselves. This led to co-publishing the “Experiences of South Asian Women – Stories of Health, Community and Joy” that shines a spotlight on women, from a range of linguistic and faith backgrounds and their relationship with their health, wellbeing and what community joy has meant to them. Also, as someone who has grown up in Southall, the lack of similar spaces to share, learn and support one another has an impact. There is the acknowledgement of needing to continuously resource this space to ensure that this work is sustainable and has a long-term impact on communities we work with. There has been many learnings throughout this process, which we will share soon. This work we led was part of the Living Roots project led by Megan Schmidt-Sane, PhD and the team at Institute of Development Studies. A huge thank you to Megan and the amazing IDS team for all the support! If any libraries, community spaces and/or community-led organisations would be interested in keeping a copy, please do contact our team at - hello@voicesofcolour.org.
