Finding a reason to write in the WISH Learning Centre is one of our big challenges. On the one hand, women will write freely when they have a purpose or strong reason. Working on your writing as an activity is almost unheard of! So we are always looking for real life reasons to help women with their writing and we continue to create reasons to write.
Starting the WISH Newsletter or putting out books of writing helped a great deal. Women have written articles, interviews, advice columns, safety tips, poetry, stories, book reviews and opinion pieces for the newsletter. Sometimes, women hand in complete submissions and sometimes we work with women to “get down their thoughts” about an important issue.
In the last couple of years, more and more peer support or advisory committee jobs have come up at WISH and in the community. Women usually need to submit a letter outlining why they would be suitable for the position. Women have sought help in the WISH Learning Centre to brainstorm, write or type up these applications. We have also done sessions on putting your resume together.
Creating a writing challenge has also worked. One time, we decided to write a group ghost story on Hallowe’en. Another time, we did Surprise Writing. This involved buying word stickers from a stationary shop. The words are similar to magnetic poetry (another good way to get people started!) and we cut up the sheets of words and put 5 word stickers in each envelope. Each participant received an envelope and then had to write a paragraph using all of her sticker words. This produced some very funny stories! Of course, you could do the same thing by typing the words on a sheet, then cutting them up. But the sticker part is interactive and fun. You can also put a combination of pictures and words in each envelope.
Sometimes women want to tell their stories, but they don’t want to write them. So we simply sat with the learner and transcribed the story she was telling. Let the learner just tell the story, don’t stop or clarify. Just keep writing. When the story has been told, go over the first draft of the story together, clarifying pieces, changing things around and fixing up grammar and spelling mistakes. After time, we found that women started to take over the writing themselves. In this way, women observed the entire writing process and get involved when they feel ready, but the story is always theirs.
Finding reasons for people on the street to write is important. There are so few places for homeless people to practice and maintain literacy skills. Expressing personal thoughts and receiving feedback also establishes visibility for people who are increasingly less visible to society.