Experiences of Urdu-Speaking Sanctuary Seeking Women When Accessing Women’s Health Services in Wandsworth.

Through trauma-informed, community research, we aim to understand the specific impact that language barriers have on sanctuary seeking women when accessing women’s healthcare in Wandsworth.

January Pilot

We collaborated with a local voluntary sector organisation, Happy Homes Community, to involve 41 Urdu-speaking sanctuary seeking women in a research café. The findings and recommendations will be shared in our final report and zine.

March Workshop

We collaborated with Roehampton Wellbeing for Women and Children and Mindworks UK to involve 15 sanctuary seeking women in a workshop at the Manresa Clubroom to understand the way that language barriers have impacted their experiences of accessing women’s healthcare.

By collaborating with these key community partners, we were able to maintain a safe and familiar space that encouraged open conversations around women’s health. We were well supported by the interpretation offered by Asma Choudry and Sahar Beg who allowed for us to share important health information and hear the experiences of attendees.

We thank the women who attended and generously shared their personal stories around accessing women’s healthcare. Through group discussions, as well as a collage-making and creative writing session hosted by artist Asma Istwani (currently completing her residency with Culturally Mindful) we were able to gather insights about the particular challenges faced by refugee and asylum-seeking women in Wandsworth. These stories will be included in our final report but, more importantly, in our zine, which will be launched in early 2027!

Next Steps

• We will host one more workshop involving at least 15 more sanctuary-seeking women in Wandsworth who speak various community languages, such as Somali.
• Continue to circulate the survey amongst sanctuary seeking women, aiming to receive another 33 responses (40 in total)
• Circulate the survey to women’s healthcare services to gather insights on their experiences providing support to sanctuary seeking women who do not speak English fluently
• Host a community event launching a zine (a small, usually self-published, creative resource that aims to connect communities and empower readers and creators (Mixam, 2025) and disseminating findings with community organisations, council, NHS professionals, and Wandsworth residents
• Produce resources reporting insights (report and zine)
• Establish new community relationships through continued collaboration with local voluntary sector organisations to continue collecting stories and seeking funding to create new opportunities to support organisations which work with sanctuary seeking women.

About Nada and her background 

I’ve worked for charities for many years. I’ve got a master’s in information science, and I started off in pharmaceutical publishing, volunteered in Sri Lanka for 3 years as a librarian, and returned then got a job at a specialist library at the Institute of Marine Engineers (a charity and professional body).  

I also worked for the Alzheimer’s society for about 10 years setting up their website and discussion board. A couple of colleagues and I ran our own community interest company which is like a small charity. We did lots of projects with people with dementia. We got a real reputation for service user involvement.  

Then, I was caring for mum for a long time which is when I came across Healthwatch. Service user involvement is one of my passions- that’s why Healthwatch appeals to me. Healthwatch is something that I could do while caring for mum, and it stretch my mind. 

How long have you been volunteering with Healthwatch Wandsworth? 

I have been a Healthwatch Research Assistant since 2019. The research role suited me because I could do so much remotely while caring for my mum, and I could choose the things that interested me. The flexibility allows you to work to your capacity and is such a lovely way of volunteering. I felt valued while caring for my mum.  

Were you able to use your previous professional skills in this volunteer role? 

The things I’ve done as a volunteer have been so varied. I’ve worked on a range of things from glossaries to writing to statistics. I’ve used my skills and developed new ones. It’s also kept me up to date with what’s happening in Wandsworth especially with health and social care. It also gave me insight into Healthwatch and how it works. 

Can you share a positive experience of volunteering with us? 

It’s all been positive. Generally, I feel useful and informed. One of the most interesting things was looking at the ONS Statistics. 

What encouragement would you give to someone who has never considered volunteering before? 

Volunteering gives you satisfaction. It’s all the best bits of having job without any of the bad bits. You’re helping people and you feel really valued. You can grow and develop skills on your own terms. You get all the job satisfaction of having a really good job without any of the pressure. You get paid in the satisfaction of doing something good. It’s a good thing to have on your CV.  

It’s brought me so much knowledge and I feel part of a Healthwatch community. You have all made me feel part of that. People think you only volunteer when you’re young or retired. I think it’s important that all people of all ages think about volunteering. Volunteering can help combat the stress of work life. 

Can you share 3 ways volunteering can impact the volunteer? 

1. Helping you grow. 

2. Interacting with a variety of people. 

3. Being part of a community. 

Interested in volunteering with us? Click here to learn more.