Rafooghar at Aagaaz
In May last year, the wonderful women from Aagaaz Theatre Trust, Nizamuddin, came to Rafooghar to spend time with our women. We sat together, chatted, ate, and listened to each other's stories. It was such a lovely afternoon that we all wished we could do it more often.
After a long wait, we finally met again and will hopefully continue to do so, forever and forever. :)
Aagaaz at Rafooghar
We are delighted to share that Rafooghar has found another home at Aagaaz. With the generous support of KNMA, we have begun a long-term community engagement with the women of Nizamuddin Basti, so that we can gather every month to rest, stitch, tell our stories and most importantly to have lots and lot of fun.
First we eat, then we play!
We held our first session last month at KNMA, and we began by eating together. The Aagaaz team arranged delicious biryani and raita from Zaika-e-Nizamuddin, a women's enterprise serving the heritage cuisine of Nizamuddin (from the time of queens and kings).
Since the women of both Nizamuddin and Shaheen Bagh are exceptional cooks, we worked closely with KNMA to ensure that the catering comes from within these communities, alternating every month. In doing so, our women can enjoy delicious, mouth-watering meals from two different communities as well as some income can be made from it by the women.
Nahid, Gulafsha, Moni and Saniya (left to right)- our faciitators for Aagaaz.
What makes this collaboration even more special is that women from the first cohort -Yellow Streets are now co-designing and co-facilitating these sessions along with Shivangi Singh, our lead facilitator and core team member. It is so satisfying to see our women step into leadership and shape the future of this work.
KNMA also generously offered to arrange transportation for the women. It is so heartening when partners think beyond the sessions themselves and pay attention to the many invisible barriers that prevent women from stepping out. From ensuring safe and accessible mobility to providing nourishing meals and creating a welcoming space for rest and leisure, every small detail makes participation possible.
As always, we began the session with icebreakers and introductions. We played games and did some art warm-ups to help everyone get comfortable with drawing and expressing themselves. We then asked the women to tell us something about themselves through their Bolte Chehre….expressive self-portraits.
And what they all made was so, so beautiful.
A lot of them said that this was the first time they were actually taking time to think about themselves. From small things like, "I like doing makeup and collecting lipsticks," to "I like mountains and want to go trekking," to loving mangoes and garam garam chai, to "ghar se hamesha bahar rehna pasand hai," (I always like being out.away from home), the women gave us a glimpse into their lives.
There was also so much variety in their work, so much experimentation with stitches and techniques. They were not scared of trying out new things and the way everyone made their hair was so unique and fun. It was difficult to believe that some of them were picking up a needle for the very first time.
Bolte Chehre- Expressive Portraits
Many women shared that they had to lie at home in order to come. Some had to leave work early to attend. A young girl shared that she was not planning to come because her mother was unwell but then someone told her that she is young, and that her life ahead will be full of challenges, so it is important for her to try and make time for herself whenever possible.
All in all, it was a great day! We are eagerly waiting for our next session and hope that new friendships can emerge from this collaboration between the women of Rafooghar and Aagaaz.
Our immense gratitude to Sneha Patel, Somya Sahni and Bandana Agarwal for supporting our community engagement program with Aagaaz Theatre Trust.
We would like to thank Sanyukta and Aabshaar from Aagaaz Theatre Trust for collaborating with us and giving Rafooghar another home.