Glendower Parents Support Afghan Evacuee Women Locally

Glendower parent volunteers ran a weekly activity programme for Afghan evacuee women staying in a hotel local to our school and community. Liaising with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Lead, Glendower parents and staff ran three morning activities with the women. These included Monday teaching English, Wednesday coffee morning and games, and Friday sewing and knitting.

All three activities were a huge success with more than 25 Afghan women and their young children attending these events regularly to socialise and interact with each other, learn English, as well as develop confidence to meet others in the local area.

Additionally, parents very generously bought brand new sewing machines, sewing, knitting and crochet equipment, material and wool to enable these activities to take place.

These activities ran from January to April, during which time friendships and relationships really began to develop and the stories that these inspirational Afghan women had to tell started to come to light. The experience was truly eye-opening, humbling and a huge amount of fun for all involved.

As part of this programme, Glendower parents generously invited 15 Afghan ladies and their young children for a Lebanese brunch locally. For the first time our Afghan friends ventured out of the hotel on mass, prams and all, to enjoy together a women’s brunch.

Additionally, Glendower parents opened their networks to support the Afghan women as much as possible. One example of this was when one of our Afghan evacuee friends attended a prestigious Women in Law breakfast event to celebrate International Women’s Day, where a female Afghan judge, also a refugee from the Taliban, was speaking. As a result of the time spent volunteering and getting to know the Afghan women locally, the parents discovered that one of the women had been a Prosecutor in Afghanistan, defending women who had experienced violence. Through connections and conversations doors were opened and the result, an invitation for our Afghan friend to attend a prestigious event for Women in Law, to mark this year’s International Women’s Day.

Aims

To welcome Afghan evacuee families locally and provide resources and support, specifically to Afghan women, as they settle into life in the UK. 

Impact

More than 20 Glendower parents and staff:

·         Spent more than 30 hours together providing opportunities for Afghan women to socialise, learn English and enjoy activities such as sewing.

·         Donated the equivalent of £1000’s in items such as sewing machines, fabric, wool, toys and games.