After a week on holiday I went to catch up with Arry Nessa and find out how the Apna programme has been running. The space looked as lovely as ever – laid out in readiness for a Calligraphy workshop this afternoon to be run by Farzana Patel.
Arry told me that the third week of the Apna programme has continued to be very busy indeed. The Apna Walks programme was understandably weather-dependent, but the sun brought out a large group of Asian women anxious to walk together and explore the area. Wednesdays Life Skills session had been a big success, and the henna sessions with Habiba Shenza continue to be popular. Clearly, local interest in the Apna project is still growing, and we’ve even been able to let a few groups of women use the space to hold their own meetings.
One of the few worries has been the lack of running water and toilet facilities, but our very helpful landlord, Dr Lal, visited today and met with the Khans, who rent next door’s shop (what was the rest of the Old Natwest Bank!). It looks as if we’ll be given a key and so access when necessary to their facilities.
amazing