BIHR and Songololo Feet: Unique collaboration

Human Rights- the ‘fabric’ of society for elder women in Hackney

BIHR has embarked on an exciting collaboration with a grassroots community arts organisation, Songololo Feet, based in East London. We’ve been training a group of older women who attend a regular craft workshop, run by Songololo, called the ‘Still alive and kicking’ project.

We got together on 29 June to – literally - bring rights to life by painting them onto a giant piece of cloth. The workshop began with the women discussing the different rights and explaining which rights were particularly important to them and what they meant for their daily lives. The women then created designs based on their discussions and made stencils, which they applied to cloth using an African screen print technique. The results were wonderful.

The discussions brought out many interesting points. Marcel, originally from Sierra Leone, spoke about rights being about having dignified treatment in hospital and not having to wait too late to see a GP. Bridgette from the Caribbean talked about rights meaning being kind to one another and respecting each other’s views. Gillian, from Hackney, felt that the right to vote was essential and reminded the group that many people fought for that right in Britain, including the Suffragettes. Daphne, sitting next to her, echoed that human rights had given all the women in the workshop the freedom to be there and discuss openly, something that many people in the world- especially women- would not be allowed, or safe, to do.

Maia, the director of Songololo, who initiated the human rights training after being concerned about the issues the women were facing in their communities, remarked after the workshop that she was delighted how confident the women were becoming and also that there was a sense that they were beginning to bond, something she felt the workshops were playing a role in. She mentioned that being able to discuss rights in the context of their personal experiences was particularly valuable and empowering.

This creative expression of human rights bears witness to the fact that human rights do matter to people in the UK. It demonstrates that human rights can inspire people and bring us together peacefully through shared values which go beyond personal and social differences.