By Naia Frías – Community Engagement Volunteer
It was summer 2024 when the invitation to participate in the last Change Makers cohort was sent. Change Makers is one of the programmes run by the Community Engagement team at LAWA. It started in 2017 to bring together women from Abya Yala living in London, to explore their migratory journeys, social injustice experiences and build from trust a space for collective healing and learning.
This year, the programme started with a session to get to know the participants, to create agreements and find out what everyone was interesting in learning about and discussing. Through games and arts, we learned the names, countries of origin and things we enjoy doing. From the beginning, the sense of commitment was palpable, and the participants energy filled the space.
They had set a precedent for the sessions to come, and they delivered in every single one of them. On Saturday 12th July 2025 the end of this year programme was celebrated with a lovely picnic and a couple of activities at the Princess Diana Memorial in Hyde Park. It was the perfect summer day to spend reminiscing about the 12 sessions shared together.
The last session was thought for building collective memory from our individual experiences and learnings, and it started with an activity using elements from nature to express how each one felt in this year’s programme. In a circle, we shared heart and soul, and it became very clear with every word used to describe our arts that Change Makers had become an important place for all of us.
There were many coincidences, such as, the importance of sharing food together, as something part of our culture, which keeps the roots healthy, and that is one of the best ways to engage others when building community. Many expressed how meaningful the space had become to them, contributing to their sense of belonging, making connections, and increasing their sense of community. These was echo with comments like “I don’t feel alone in this city” and “It [Change Makers] is the hope and love that allows me to be and gives me dignity”, “It has made me aware that I am not alone with my feeling of loneliness”.
Throughout the programme, a wide range of subjects were discussed, some of the favourite ones mentioned were intersectionality, maternity, fatphobia, anarchism and mental health. The conversations on these subjects were not always easy to have and brought discomfort to a personal level, as well as collective. It is here that the most important part of Change Makers comes to life, navigating the uneasiness together and questioning where these sensations might come from with curiosity, compassion and care. One of the participants said, “Change Makers is a safe space to talk and reflect on very important topics”, another added “It’s a radical space for debate”.
None of the above would have been possible without the commitment from the participants who attended the sessions with incredible energy, an open mind and free of judgement. It was for them that the last activity of the day was designed for and called Point of Appreciation. There, the participants received the love from the group, hearing about the impact of their presence and the value of their contributions had made to the space. Evidently, the need to hear this and see how the space is a collective construction is part of the work LAWA is committed to.
Change Makers is knitting the social fabric of migrant women in a city that may be very hostile to them. The seeds planted 8 years ago have grown solid roots and a stalk that will grow to be a firm trunk has sprout. We look forward to seeing the leaves and flowers that will blossom from it.
This cohort was composed of Spanish-speaking participants, and we now also have a cohort made up of Portuguese-speaking women from the Global Majority. Click here to find out more about this journey and join us.