The audio piece in this episode is a collection of recordings made over a number of weeks with women supported by Hemat Gryffe Women's Aid. The women read poems they had written, sang songs and chose music that they felt related to their experiences of having lived with Domestic Abuse and to their recovery. The women's individual poems, stories, songs are woven together with the flow of sounds from the weekly group meetings.
Following this is a short clip from Lucy Cathcart Froden's podcast and PhD research 'Our Chance Of Becoming Human'. Exploring themes of the voice, language and translation, research ethics, and the transformative potential of collaborative songwriting.

Lucy writes and performs music under the name raukarna, a Swedish word for a series of odd-shaped geological formations on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. raukarna is a series of themed collaborative projects, the first of which was called FLIGHT and was a collaboration with the Refuweegee initiative and a number of other songwriters. The second project is called CLOSE and involves working with tenement neighbours to create a collaborative album. This project has received funding from Creative Scotland and is in the process of being written and recorded.
 At the moment Lucy is doing a PhD based at the University of Glasgow and Vox Liminis, exploring the potential for collaborative music making in social integration, particularly among people with convictions and people who have been forcibly displaced. She makes a podcast, an audio scrapbook of the PhD journey, called Our Chance of Becoming Human.
Lucy has also been in bands like The Social Services (Stockholm) and Tall Tales (Glasgow). She has helped develop site-specific collaborative music performances as part of Zoetrope, bringing together a collective of bands and artists for unique performances at festivals around Scotland.

https://www.lumawords.co.uk/lucy-cathcart-froden
https://www.voxliminis.co.uk/people/lucy-cathcart-froden/

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Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid was founded in 1981 as the first Asian, Black and Minority Ethnic Women’s Aid Group in Scotland. They provide support and information in a culturally sensitive manner on a wide range of issues. They strive to ensure that all women and children receive an equal service and do not discriminate on the grounds of age, disability, gender-reassignment, gender identity, marriage, civil partnership, pregnancy, maternity, race, religion and belief or sexual orientation.
Services are free and confidential and include:
Outreach Support for women, children and young people;
Culturally sensitive counselling/listening ear service;
Information on all forms of domestic abuse and gender based violence;
Forced Marriage
Immigration matters including the immigration rules implemented from 9th July 2012 affecting women living in the United Kingdom on Spousal Visas who have no recourse to public funds;
Help with making an application for settlement to the UKBA under the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession.
Housing and Homelessness in Glasgow
Welfare Rights
Employment
Legal matters
Bilingual Staff are available
Support for marginalised communities
Children’s Outreach service operates from the drop in centre

Hemat Gryffe recognise that women, children and young people from the Asian, black and minority ethnic community experiencing domestic abuse may be reluctant to seek help from mainstream services such as Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid or social services due to cultural beliefs. If you are experiencing domestic abuse or an oppressive domestic situation please contact them at:  http://www.hematgryffe.org.uk/women.html
Hemat Gryffe's 24 hour emergency service 0141 3530859
The Scottish National Helpline Number for victims of Domestic Abuse & Forced Marriage is 0800 027 1234