Xenia moves online
An update from April 2020
Four weeks ago, the Organising Team of staff and volunteers that runs Xenia came together to discuss what would happen to our weekly workshops in this new era of social distancing. Cancelling sessions was not an option: we have never cancelled a workshop in the nearly four years since we began and we knew that they would be needed now more than ever.
We rallied round to figure out the most inclusive ways to connect English-learning and English-speaking women, now that face to face sessions were no longer an option. We spent three days setting up a Zoom account, discussing safeguarding with our Trustees, and sending out emails and texts to invite participants to our first virtual session.
We went into it the same way we went into our first ever workshop: knowing this was an experiment. A virtual session isn’t particularly accessible, but we decided to do what we could with the time we had and prioritise accessibility going forward. We wanted to give space for participants to talk about the current situation, but in a way that it wouldn’t feel too heavy. So, we decided on the theme “Inside and Outside”.
Our first virtual Xenia.
It was wonderful to see so many women join us online: 18 altogether, including a few members of the organising team. Some we had seen at the last face to face workshop the week before, others we hadn’t seen for many months: as always everyone was welcome. We spoke about our homes, outdoor spaces we can visit and activities we can do inside. We also asked participants for their ideas for activities and topics for future sessions and other ways we could support each other. Some suggested sharing skills and activity ideas, such as recipes and even how to belly dance! Others said that just talking was enough. We ended the session by practicing a mindfulness exercise together.
How did it go?
After the session, the Organising Team reflected on how it went. We all agreed it felt much like a normal session, with great conversation, laughter and learning. This has been echoed by participants. They said the session made them feel “happy”, “energised” and “grateful that this community exists.” One woman said she felt “connected to the world out there, not alone.” We closed with a mindfulness exercise, a new addition to our sessions, to help us be present and feel more relaxed.
The main challenge is making them as accessible as possible, as most of the attendees at the first session were fluent English speakers.
How can we make Xenia more accessible online?
Since then we have been working with the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and others to pull together some translated Zoom resources. We hope this will make it easier for speakers of other languages to use Zoom and we have sent them in our emails to participants. We have a private Facebook group for participants which we are increasing our activity on and encouraging participants to continue their conversations there after sessions.
But most importantly, we have been phoning participants. We have always checked in on women we haven’t seen for a while with a phone call and it’s been something that has been appreciated in the past. Over the past two weeks we have called up participants to ask them how they are, how we can stay in touch with them (do they have internet, a smart phone, or data), and inviting them to our virtual sessions if they are able to join. Reaching out to participants this way has worked well and we were glad to see more English-learners joining us at the past two sessions. We will continue to call those we haven’t spoken to yet and plan to check in again in the future.
Many expressed their gratitude to us for calling them and even those who couldn’t join us online were glad to know we were thinking of them. Calling up participants has been more than an invitation to our virtual sessions: it represents a key value of our organisation. No matter what is going on in your life or how long it has been since you last came to a session, Xenia will always be here to welcome you.
What next?
We're adjusting quickly to new ways of connecting in this crisis of isolation so migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking and British women can still connect, share and learn together. However, we know that our virtual sessions are not accessible to all: some women don’t have smart phones or internet access, others feel unsure about using Zoom or have very low levels of English.
We are speaking regularly as a team to find ways to improve this and will continue to share what we are doing and what we are learning openly. We hope this will help and inspire other groups, as well as keep us all connected during this incredibly difficult time.
To end this blog, here is some wonderful feedback from one of our childcare volunteers who attended the online sessions and invited her mum who wanted to improve her English and attended Xenia for the very first time via Zoom:
“I love Xenia sessions, they bring me joy. I love connecting with the diverse women of the group, and I like the activities. It's great to be able to spend a morning thinking about how animals feel about the coronavirus, or about what home means. It really allows our imaginations to roam.
My mum also enjoyed the session today […] She said that she feels like she made the most of her day today by attending.”