Stories of place: Through the winter and into spring

Our work with Afghan refugees continued through the winter months. Working with a new, smaller group of Afghan men, some of retirement age, having left families and successful lives behind in Afghanistan, trying to adjust to a new world. In this way, the sessions took the shape of a men’s wellbeing group, supporting them to integrate and connect outside the hotels, slowly meet new groups and communities, or venturing out with greater confidence.

Thursdays evolved to wider spheres of orientation - with trips to the river Thames, or to Tate Modern, Hampstead Heath, Museums and other places, finding public spots to sit and talk or write about the stimulus of the day. Then back to the Story Garden for poems, cooking, and integrating the experiences around a fire. The trips that stood out to them were first seeing the river Thames, and from different high vantage point; and exploring the magic of the woods at Kenwood. The older men in particular, appreciated the adventures and explorations.

“All day I am stale, I forgetting to look up
at the greening of life. The fields, and the tiny birds and buds around, the happiness of people”

“Walking around the woods I hear the chirping of birds and the chirping of people, sounds so sweet to be surrounded by. On the high hill the water trickles down into the city to feed it happiness. If all who see war could only come here - it is an experience that has lifted me in these six months since I have come to this land. I have just felt a very special happiness here”

— Written about Kenwood

“do you remember or not
when you would pass me
the yogurt after it touched
your lips?”

- This old love poem is to honour bringing us to a bright place, that in my life I have not seen and will never forget. And because my age is so very high I have written - the journey of life is passing me in three stages I was raw – I ripened – I am burnt”

The men had found it difficult to process the complexity and range of feelings in their new life. With huge, sometimes ecstatic gratitude to the ARAP scheme and the British people, mixed with depression, frustration and guilt – having left close family and grown-up children behind; and spending many months ( 7 and counting) in hotels without a clear idea of their future, adjusting to a very different position in this society.

As the weeks went on, the garden became a non-judgmental environment to navigate and integrate some of these contrasting emotions, without needing to choose one polarity. Our sessions have stopped since some of the men have moved away. Yet there are still over a thousand refugees in the area. With cultural confusion, depression and issues of inclusion and integration still a big factor.

Next we are hoping to introduce two new, larger groups to the garden and to the project, with the garden in bloom! One will be aimed at isolated men identified by Hopscotch at the hotels. And another, a bigger weekly session with a mixture of different groups from different countries and backgrounds combining different activities and workshops, cooking of course our stories!

Storytelling by the Afghan men in Dari & Pashto:

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Notes from the Garden