GWL lifelong learning staff travelled to Dundee International Women’s Centre in February and March as part of our National Lifelong Learning programme.
Morag and Syma led a session introducing GWL’s mobile exhibition She Settles in the Shields. This exhibition tells the untold stories of migrant women in Pollokshields. Told in their own words, the women reveal their experiences of life in their traditional homelands, together with their reasons for leaving, their arrival and first impressions of Scotland and Pollokshields. It also provides an intimate insight into family, intergenerational differences, and, on a more light-hearted note, of food, fashion, relaxation and celebration.
At a further oral history session, women from the Bezor group told and recorded their own stories of migrating from their homelands to Dundee. They brought in photographs, certificates and artefacts ranging from kettles to wedding dresses and shared their memories with others. The stories included a women who was one of the first female lawyers in India and an impromptu demonstration of a traditional wedding ceremony. Women of all ages and cultures attended the session.
She Settles in the Shields and follow-up oral history sessions are available to women’s groups across Scotland as part of Glasgow Women’s Library National Lifelong Learning Programme. For more information contact Morag Smith 0141 552 8345 or e-mail info@womenslibrary.org.uk
