From being lost to being found

This week, I spoke to Ayat from the Iraqi Welfare Association, one of our amazing hubs who have been delivering Creative English for 3 years.

The Iraqi Welfare Association in North London run a range of different programmes and activities throughout the week alongside Creative English, including a range of advice Services for family, social and employment issues. They help to facilitate community and cultural events to bring people together, as well as summer workshops for children. Their aim is to build a network that creates a family and helps those within the community through all that they do.

Ayat and the volunteers team are so proud of the effects that Creative English is having on their learners. They are experiencing the personalities of their ladies shining through and their confidence levels developing endlessly. Many of their women miss their families who do not live in the United Kingdom, but at IWA, they have made a new family including volunteers and facilitators too!

“We really miss those who sometimes cannot come to a session.” – Ayat

I asked, “What advice would you give to an organisation just like yours to achieve success?”. Ayat said they are incredibly lucky to have such a dedicated team with a fully committed director and board who are the real face of the organisation. “They get involved in everything they can, they are really close to the community and always know what is going on”.

When I asked for a success story, Ayat told me of a lady of Iraqi heritage from Holland. “She was very shy and didn’t speak very much. She found it quite hard and looked very lost.” However, they were so happy as she persevered with the course. “Now we are onto the term two book which is more challenging but she is still coming and really understanding! She will now come out with sentences in English and we are like, wow, where did that come from! She really went from being lost to being found; she is a real sport!”