Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
We look to the positive for each other
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Women 4 Women meets monthly at JRS UK as a peer support for women who have been made destitute by the UK asylum process. Facilitator and participants share why it matters.
All the ladies who come have no way to get money so we have to help them for transport and also for food, so they can eat first. Sometimes they are hungry when they come, so a fruit or biscuits helps them.
“For me, it has improved my life, otherwise, there is nothing for me to do in the day, you take it away, you take away my life. The others, they need it too. The staff are very friendly, we look to the positive for each other. I appreciate it very well.”
For the women's peer support group, it is a very clear piece of time for them, doing exercises, learning how to do massage or some mediation, it is time out for them. It is about their wellbeing, to feel, they can focus on themselves, such when we do creative things. They do drawing or colouring, expressing themselves in some way, they have gone back to a time in their lives that they can't have now, when they can just be.
We started off with 4 and those who have moved on have their papers, but it allows others new to come in as others move on. There is now a stability (in the midst of very chaotic lives). This year we started with a couple of Eritrean women who have now brought their friends. There is a sense of belonging and connectedness, it is not just a piece of fruit or the bus fare that they benefit from.
It depends on the person, but it can give a certain confidence. Some come uncertain and withdrawn, but now are more expressive and relaxed around people. It helps them more to be themselves also. Their confidence has been shattered with what they have been through.
“As asylum seekers we have lost our competence. I would like to improve, to do some training, share skills in cooking, baking, sewing, drawing... all creative things where we can have the satisfaction that we have made something from start to finish. To have some skills where in future I will be able to learn to stand again on my own two feet.”
A couple of participants now help lead. One has come out of herself and has more confidence and tremendously helpful. They help with preparation and good to see women who have had the same experiences can now lead.
Make a donation to help pay the bus passes of the women who attend: www.justgiving.com/jesuitrefugeeservice
Here and Now - a wisdom from the East
Photo by Mike Pedroncelli at Foter.com
We are going through the Lenten season. At the same time, the spring is coming, too! What would be true penance and true appreciation of life? This week, we listen to a wisdom from Buddhist tradition, which Sr Marguerite shared with us.
We are not capable of being alive in the present moment. We tend to postpone being alive to the future... now is no the moment to be alive. We may never be alive at all in our entire life.
Therefore, the technique, if we have to speak of a technique, is to be in the present moment, to be aware that we are here and now; and the only moment to be alive is the present moment.
THIS is the moment that is real.
To be here and now, and enjoy the present moment, is our most important task.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
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A Pilgrim Journey to Canterbury
“The first day was really an amazing day,” Charles expressed on sharing his experience of the pilgrimage. “We walked through the city of London and we reached Swanly which is 18 miles away from London and there we slept in a church – everybody! - and we had lovely dinner, conversations and so on. The second day we reached a place somewhere in Kent, not far from Ashford. We had a lot of discussion as we walked and the next day we were in Charing. And in Charing we discovered a church that was 700 years old, and the first vicar of the church was patronised by King Henry VIII. And we stayed there, we stayed in a school basically and there was evening entertainment where we organised comic strips, theatres, singers so it was a lot of fun. The fourth day was the last day, so we went to Canterbury. And at Canterbury we had a mass at Canterbury Cathedral.
Unfortunately the archbishop of Canterbury was not there but we did see the Dean of Canterbury and they had a choir. A very lovely choir, very lovely songs and we had a reading from those who are really, the thinkers of helping the community.”
On the second day of the walk, Charles, who has been taking part in a photography workshop at JRS, run by Fotosynthesis, a not-for-profit organisation that uses participatory photography to develop skills, give a voice to people and encourage community cohesion, was inspired by the beauty of the area and the joy he felt to take a photo.
“I just stood and I just opened my hands like this just to say how life is, how nature is beautiful and it just shows that although you are walking and people may feel like it was really painful and hard to walk for four days, after the second day, I was still feeling very happy and enthusiastic because it was for a good cause. It’s for people who need accommodation, who need support in their society, who need food for themselves. So my hands that way, show in life we have to be open to each other, we have to welcome each other, we can help each other, and by such action we can iron out some problem in the society such as homelessness, such as poverty and such as mental health problems.”
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