Reflections - Mid June 1992

We took some time to reflect on how we felt about going door-to-door, doing this survey. Here are some of the comments we wrote:

When I first realized that we were going to take on a woman-positive activity I felt excited. I would be going door-to-door with another woman with a questionnaire that would deal only with women.

I felt good at the beginning. When we went knocking on doors my feelings changed and I felt like an intruder because most people didn't want to talk to us.

It was with a touch of anticipation and dread that I first went out because I knew what it was like going door-to-door from a previous experience. Not all the people in the area are overly friendly and I knew we would not always get a good reception. Most of the people have problems and are cautious about who is coming to their door. We live in a housing development and I knew some people would think we were there to spy on them.

Each week I was starting to wish we were finished, but when I got to talk to the women I felt good. Some of their answers to our questions were very enlightening, but I think basically all of the women said the same thing. Each one was worried about money and childcare.

I don't think I would like to do a door-to-door survey again. It was an experience and I needed to do it. I just wish more women would talk to us. My biggest wish is to be able to do something to help those women who want to improve their lives.

I was certainly more enthusiastic on bright, warm mornings. I got energetic as soon as I went through the door and usually wanted to go on all day long.

There are days I came back to the Centre feeling really downhearted by some of the stories. The women's stories are mostly sad and it's hard not to be touched by them. Some women are trying to improve their lives but they come up against a lot of barriers.

Now that we're finished, I don't think we need to go through the questionnaires to find the commonalities. On every page of every questionnaire we see violence, poverty, and loneliness. The despair in the young women especially is loud and clear. They are in situations that make life seem hopeless. They either don't know they have choices or they don't want to leave the situation - we don't really know. Or do they really have choices?

We can't help but wonder, what will happen to the children? Will they end up in the cycle of poverty and despair? Or by having the know-how and strength, will they be able to have a better life?