Stories of Hope and Home

The aim of the early workshops was always going to be creating a safe and comfortable environment in which stories could be shared: drinking tea together, having informal conversations about our lives and the things that matter to us, becoming friends. These will remain core values throughout the project: but after two weeks of doing little more than that, last week we had our first more focused session, beginning to explore how we share about our lives. One thing which never ceases to amaze me, as a native English speaker, are the great depths of meaning which those who are express themselves in their second (or third, or fourth ...) language are able to communicate. It is almost as if, by stripping away some of the complexities of language and the cultural constructs which go with that allows more profound truths to be shared. Even simple statements can suddenly sound like poetry. Using the wonderful resource "Paint Chip Poetry" we explored the colours and shapes of o

We are delighted that Stories of Hope and Home is underway! We have already held our first two workshops, which have provided space for sharing on a wide range of subjects: from care for the elderly, to air pollution in Birmingham, from journeying across Europe, to how best to learn English, from family and friendship to houses and hospitality, and a fair few other things in between. Above all, together, we are building the safe spaces of friendship where we know we can talk about our lives, the whole of our humanity. We also had our first trip out (pictured). During early October, Birmingham hosts it's literature festival, with a wide range of events and activities, including plenty of spoken word and story-telling. We had a wonderful evening at the story-telling evening at the Old Joint Stock, listening, learning, celebrating the beauty of words and language to tell truths about our very diverse lives. In other good news, we have also received positive responses about s