BABY STEPS. I learned the real essence of the name we have chosen for our project, Baby Steps, at my first session for women who are from ethnic minority backgrounds, at Stanwell Family Centre in Spelthorne.

My name is Jaime, and I have recently joined SMEF as a Community Development Worker. I had the pleasure of conducting my first session in the last week of March. The session was organised at a local family centre to help young mums connect with others and give us give us some feedback on what support and services they would like in their local communities.

I connected immediately with a Mum who spoke very little English but was eager to learn and connect with others. I was struck by her warmth and kindness and despite the language barrier, she was eager to connect and make new friends. We spent some time talking about our backgrounds and sharing our experiences of living in different parts of the world. During our conversation, I learned about some of the challenges she had faced since moving to the area. She talked about the difficulties of adapting to a new culture and learning a new language. She also shared some of the joys and successes she had experienced, such as making new friends and finding work.

I left the session feeling inspired, energised, and ready to take my own “baby steps” towards building this new group in Stanwell and making a difference in the lives of women.