A Summer of Xenia Online
This summer we’ve been busier than ever. We’ve run 38 sessions with over 40 participants attending since we started delivering online. We’ve spent five hours a week speaking to participants on the phone and via email, checking in with them, referring some women to essential services such as food banks, and encouraging participants to join us online.
As we’ve become more confident delivering sessions online, we’ve continued to listen to participants and adapt as we go. Participants said they’d like us to run more sessions and learn new skills, so since June we’ve been running fortnightly creative workshops on Wednesday evenings; 14 participants received activity packs and are crafting together over Zoom. We’re also building community outside of sessions by starting up WhatsApp groups. Participants are using the groups to carry on conversations after sessions, sharing photos and organising meet-ups.
Until July, online sessions were only open to current participants while we all got used to delivering sessions virtually and speaking to participants remotely. Meeting new people is one of the great joys of Xenia, so regulars have enjoyed welcoming new participants once again. With lockdown and social distancing measures in place, opportunities to practise English have been few and far between for many women, so we’re glad to provide this space for new participants once again.
We’re continuing to share our model and what we have learnt so far in our journey towards building more inclusive and connected communities. We launched a free online resource bank, which is open to anyone who registers on our website. To celebrate our fourth birthday, we delivered an Anti-University session open to all, introducing attendees to the Xenia model and the training available.
We also delivered training online to Human Libraries. We were really pleased with how it went and received great feedback. One of the attendees said: “The first session of training, which gave us the chance to reflect on and find our own ways to express some of the methods you use, was extremely effective... I was hugely impressed at the level of care/ thought that went into the training, and your ability to keep the sessions engaging despite this all happening on Zoom.”
What have we been talking about?
As always, the themes of the sessions have been diverse. In some ways our worlds have become smaller, as we spend more time indoors, unable to travel across the city and beyond. So we’ve discussed topics that help to open our minds, use our imagination, and take our minds off of the current crisis. Such as ‘Fantastic Creatures’, ‘Stars in the Sky’, and ‘Jokes and Laughter’. We’ve also looked within ourselves and our homes talking about ‘Hobbies’, ‘Keeping Well’ and ‘Objects with Stories’.
Xenia is often an important source of information for many women and when the Government guidance changed in July, participants requested a session where we looked at the guidance in detail. We spoke about the challenges people face when looking for information about Covid-19. This included not having internet access, language barriers, struggling to know which key search words will bring up the right information, and simply feeling overwhelmed. We went over the key points of the new guidance together, discussing the changes, and finding more information about support bubbles and wearing masks.
Everyone felt that they understood the guidelines much better, with Fatima saying, "When I take good information, I help myself and I help my family.” Alicia said, “I am finding it very overwhelming to read the news and everything, so Xenia has been a very important information source for me.”
To read more about what we are learning from taking Xenia online and our next steps, take a look at our next blog.