Bexley Speaking up Group Newspaper 2nd Edition March 2022
Coming out of Lockdown
what is inside?
Coming out of covid, how members coped The temple and me World news and me - Punjab farmers Music and me Assisted tech Cooking Allotment Group news, social events, meetings and topics
Advocacy for All is an independent advocacy organisation and an equal opportunities employer. Charity no: 1064855.
An interview with members about lockdown last year By Lucy and Duncan
We have interviewed a few of our members and found that in lockdown most people felt the same, they missed their friends and family. Everyone was motivated to keep busy every day with very different hobbies from bike rides, art, wood work and even watching documentaries on television. Members improved their skills and learnt new skills throughout lockdown. Making themselves feel better and stronger with new goals. This was the making of them in their daily life through covid.
There was a period of time when I wasn’t able to do much with my time because shops were closed, I decided to do as much as I can by writing my autobiography. When things became busy because the restrictions had lifted I didn’t have time to continue. I will go back to it and refer to all my diaries from the past, this is one of my goals. I am lucky to have my dog forest, who kept me company during lockdown and also going to my brother’s house kept me and Forest going. We walked together in the park which was quiet because of covid, it was peaceful but I wanted Forest to be able to play with his friends and have a run. “It was who kept the dogs in instead of who let the dogs out.”
“WOOF WOOF!”
Have you felt cared for under lockdown? By family members? By society? By the people who care for you; nurses, care workers, doctors?
TANYA Yes, mostly my mum and dad, I was at home most of the time. Just me and mum for the start as dad was asked to help with the ambulances.
He works for the fire brigade and he was asked to help drive the ambulances while the staff could work in the back. He did it just before he retired.
MIRANDA
Very much so staff have worked extra hours doing activities and fun, they have been brilliant. I spoke to my family over the phone, mum sent face masks.
I have tried to keep to the rules. I’ve not seen family much. I had my jab and flu and doctors appointment, it went well.
How has COVID changed your day to day life? MIRANDA Lockdown was difficult not seeing people, no work or church. Sometimes I got fed up: stuck indoors is frustrating. Not all bad got time to do art work. We have been tested every week and been clear each time. After we send it off in priority post it comes back in 28 hours. It’s very tickly and uncomfortable.
BHAVINA During lockdown has been hard, it’s still not gone. Getting bored and fed up lately. You can’t do much at the moment but I am being supported by my parents and I do exercise and chores to keep myself busy.
How have you coped with lockdown? Have you started any new hobbies? BHAVINA No new hobbies but been doing exercise to keep healthy. listening to music. I am looking forward to getting into a routine again.
What did you use to motivate yourself in lockdown? IAN I should get back into yoga, although I may need some practice. To motivate myself to do something like house work, when I went shopping I would get a treat that I would be allowed when I had done my chores. Getting started is the hardest part, but if I got a reward I would actually get a lot done.
MIRANDA I did things around the house, played the Wii, planting and gardening. Keep fit helped me to stay positive and made us closer as a house hold. I liked doing art, craft, dancing, singing and gardening very much with my house.
What are your positives and negatives from lockdown? IAN Positively: more time to reflect. Lockdown was a good time for me. I needed time alone to rest. Its gone on so long, at the time it started my phone was old I’m still in the process, it is very slow. While everyone has been able to communicate with WhatsApp and zoom I was not able to participate without the tech.
MIRANDA I won an art competition for my daffodil painting , a £20 voucher. More time with my house. My negative: fed up being stuck at home, got used to it in the end. It’s nice to be back at work and see friends again. Keeping fit during lockdown was important. Family and friends are well and most didn’t get the virus. My brother did but got better.
What have you learnt from the past year? IAN I’ve learnt lots of little things, I’ve kept myself busy learning about the world; watching documentaries about other cultures or history around the world. It has made me live within my own means. What I am capable of doing, for example what shopping I need and what shopping I can actually carry. Be productive within my own means.
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TANYA Having friends and family around is important, as I haven't seen them for a year. You don’t realise what is important to you until it is taken away. Like seeing my nan is more difficult, now it’s dependant on time as it’s two buses away. Because my brother is a fireman, and my sister in law is a teaching assistant I couldn’t see them, that was really hard too.
What is the future for you? Have you got any new goals after lockdown? DUNCAN New goals are the subgroup meetings
MATHAN In January I will be starting something called Tuck by Truck, it’s something like training and voluntary work. It involves helping selling chocolate bars in a warehouse. I am doing this to do some work experience and training, I’m looking forward to being out of the house and socialising.
If we had another lockdown what would you change? BHAVINA Another lockdown will be hard because it’s the same thing again. can’t do much and you need to be careful around people with social distance. keep the same advice.
LUCY I would change my way of thinking. I would try not to look into things too much and have more understanding of how people feel. I would be more sensitive to others needs, considering others and how my actions affect them.
MIRANDA Be able to see people on zoom, I would still carry on with hobbies and activities
DUNCAN Give people activities to do and the parks to stay open and exercise.
Would you like to be Prime Minister or Mayor at this time? If you were Prime Minister or Mayor, what would you have done differently?
© Ian Kimber
MIRANDA I think they left it too late. They should have shut the barriers, if they acted quicker they would have saved lives.
BHAVINA No
IAN No. I am more of an assistant person; I would like to present facts. It’s difficult as my action is based on the hope that the whole world would join me. To try and control the pandemic earlier on I would have made the first lock down longer and closed the boarders. If every country had done that, then we would have had a hard few months, but we might have been able to stop the pandemic earlier. We might be living in more normal times now.
COVID-19
Winter Puzzle Wordsearch Can you find all the words from the list below?
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Music and me By Justine
Dear members, I am writing this letter to explain about what music means to me. Like memories I can relate to them, or just fond memories in my childhood, school, teenage years, even sometime when people die. Albums I borrowed of friends, even school Assembly or the apartheid in south Africa. I want to share this with you due to my experience in life, because it helped me get through tough times. I hope this music helps you through hard times if you need to reflect & smile again. You do come out the better person thanks to the experience of music. Music is just as good now as it was back then came & join me on my journey with music. The group is called The Christians from the 1980’s.
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I like ‘The Ideal world’ song in so many ways because it teaches you we are free to choose where you want to go, because back then there was apartheid where you was separated from the ones you loved. Back then there were hard times, things have changed for the better now, you can mix with other people again in South Africa. The song is about starting again even to this day the song plays a big part of my life but it is a true song. At school my teacher Mr James made us put your hand up to ask what the song is about, to this day I have never forgot about that school assembly. Today freedom is just as important a point now as it was then, like freedom day after covid. The Christians 'Ideal World' - (youtube link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7_zfivvmwU
The Christians also done a song called ‘Hooverville’ & after another song called ‘Sad Song’ as well. Both of these songs are about accepting what you have & who you are. Hooverville is a song based on a true story if you watch the story on YouTube you will realise how lucky you are. Just like I did, when I first heard it. The song teaches you about poverty & not only going without the things you like but without out the basics in life. The song every time I listen to it, it brings a tear to my eyes.
The Christians - ‘Hooverville’ - (youtube link)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dssA5ApFbo0
Thinking about being open to who you are, the ‘Sad Song’ by The Christians is based on a true story again, about a French lady who owned her own bar in the 1930’s. This was a time when things weren’t accepted by the public, but she was brave in coming out & being open to her sexuality. Even though it was taboo back then, it just wasn’t heard of, but now we talk about sexuality honestly & openly. This band made a big change in how things were for people at the time, like now after lockdown has with us. I think they are a good example for our community, acceptance, patience & understanding. By Justine
The allotment
The allotment group visit our patch twice a month with Amy and Jan. So far we have grown, butternut squash, tomato's, runner beans, chilli peppers, lavender and tulip bulbs which will turn into flowers in the spring.
We had a planning meeting in January at community house in Bromley and on zoom. We decided
What jobs to do? What to plant and when? What recipes we make for our cook book? Come and join the group at the allotment. Contact Jan Donnelly 07730762924 jan.donnelly@advocacyforall.org.uk
The Temple and Me By Bhavina and Amy
Because of the coronavirus, many governments around the world made the decision to close religious buildings to the public.
This is because many religious festivals and meeting places like churches, synagogues, temples and mosques were places where covid spread easily and quickly.
This would upset and hurt many people around the world. Religious meetings are important for some people, they look after their spiritual health, as well as their chance to get out of the house and meet people they care about.
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People would carry on, though. Many churches, temples and synagogues moved their services online. They held weddings for only 6 people. They set up a telephone service for the elderly and fed NHS workers for free.
Now that lockdown has begun to get better, and people are about to go back into their places of prayer and to meet again outside. Bhavina and Amy think back about the past year and how their families and communities have dealt with the closed temples, churches and synagogues.
Bhavina is Hindu and goes to a Hindu Temple and Amy comes from a Jewish and Christian family and goes to a Synagogue which is a Jewish Temple and to Church.
Bhavina’s Temple
A Jewish synagogue
A Christian Church
So, to start off, how often did you go to the Temple before COVID? Bhavina: We don’t go often, we go on celebrations. When something is happening. Amy: I do the same, I go to temple (Synagogue) or Church on special occasions, on holidays. My dad does go to Church every Sunday when he’s not working. Before COVID, what days of the week did you go to the Temple?
Bhavina: Saturday, Sunday, or sometimes on days of the week. I would go with my parents and my sisters. Amy: Cool, it’s similar with Christianity and Judaism. Most Church services are held on Sundays, with some special activities throughout the week, like Bible study. Sabbath is the Jewish day of rest and worship. It starts at sundown on Friday evening and finishes at sundown on Saturday. It’s in that time that we will have a special meal, do special things, pray and have services at Temple.
What’s your favourite thing about going to the Temple? Bhavina: The reason I like going to the temple is because I like meeting everyone there, I like talking to the people there.
It’s a local place, not very far from my house. I like going there, putting some money in the temple, slowly saying a prayer, then waiting for about 15-20 minutes. One thing we do have to do is take our shoes off when we go to temple. I think they don’t want mud on the floor.
Amy: That sounds really nice! I like the singing. At Church we sing hymns, which is nice. In Judaism, a lot of our prayers are read in Hebrew (an ancient language) and are often sung, it’s really beautiful.
What have you been doing to replace going to the Temple? Bhavina: We’ve been doing a lot of praying on Zoom, at home with my family. It’s a big thing for families. Amy: Same here, but I am looking forward to going back inside! Bhavina: Me too!
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Assisted Technology By Mark
As most of you know I have dyslexia, dyspraxia and autism spectrum disorder. However these three hidden disabilities have not stopped me going to university and graduating with a BSC hons in IT and Computing and having a IT Career of over 20 years now. I started when I was 17 now I am into my 40’s.
The biggest secret to this is assisted technology, and here is a breakdown of what I used. Though over the years technology has got even better, or been renamed. The key to all the software I use is my trusty computer, or my smart phone which is like a mini computer. These are the breakdown of what I use and where to find them online
Dragon Nature Speaking – This acts like a dicta phone, I talk in to a head set and it writes what I say on the document, email or page. At the moment only got it on my work computer, I hope to get a second one for my personal laptop.
https://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/tools-technology/tech-tips/dragonnaturally-speaking/
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Text help read/write – This is basically thought of as a screen reader, I use it to read back to me, it can read back pdf documents, websites, emails and many others.
https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/products/read-and-write-education/
Grammarly – It is meant to help improve my grammar, but I cant get my head round it.
https://www.grammarly.com/
Last Pass – Due to my dyslexia my memory is badly affected. In my job I have to remember secure passwords, so I use this free app to store all my key passwords.
https://www.lastpass.com/
Inspiration – This is a type of programme is used to download ideas, in to the form of a spider diagram.
https://www.inspiration-at.com/
spider diagram
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Amazon Alexia – She is like my personal assistant, helping me with many things. She even controls my heating, wakes me up, and many other tasks. (My partner thought i was cheating on her till she met alexia.)
https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa
Franklin spell master – this is an advanced digital spell checker, the size of a calculator. I used one when at university.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TstxSLKKYCk
Helpful tools and gadget’s
Dicta phone – This is what I use when in face to face meetings and university classes, as it lets me record the meeting. I always get permission first. Printer – Printing out documents help to save reading on screen.
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Scanner – To scan in a document to then use screen read to read back to me
There are another programmes on the market that I have not used but my co worker uses something called “Jawes” basically it used to make the screen far bigger or change the font size on the screen for better reading. Bigger Text
There are many other solutions out there, but these are what I use now. Some I paid for out my own pocket. Others I get funding from “Access to Work”, and when I was at university the funding I got was via “Disability Student allowance scheme” I probably spent more out of my own money than I get in grants, but if it helps me. Its worth while.
Racism and Me by Sunny What is racism?
Some times people don’t like other people of different backgrounds. It can be black white Asian or mixed race. It affects everyone. Who is a racist? A racist can be anyone, it can be an ethnic minority or even majority. What does a racist look like? Anyone, we can’t judge a book by its cover
Why are people racist?
I’ll give you an example, remember the football penalties when the three black England players got negative messages and abuse because he missed the goal. If these players had not missed they would not have done that. I think the black players got picked on as it was an easy chance for people to get nasty.
How does racism affect me?
It affects me mentally and emotionally, it hurts inside. It can be a small thing or a big thing. For example a drunk man shouted racist comments at me because I asked him to be quiet when I was working in my friends shop. This kind of thing doesn’t happen often even though welling, where I live was the most racist borough of London in 1993. Attitudes take a long time to change and even though the welling riots were many years ago, now there is still racism going on. You can see it in football and work places, even in daily life. For example for me comments about eating curry because I am an Indian man make me angry.
How can we change things?
We can help to educate people about ethnic minorities and change our ideas about other peoples cultures. If everyone went home there would be no England. Change starts with us!
Lockdown and Me By Mathan
Hello my name is Mathan, I am 29 years old and I am new to the Bexley speaking up group. This is a good chance for me to tell you a little something about myself. During the lockdown situation, I have started learning about the Jehovah’s Witness article on zoom as part of my religious education. I think learning about different religions is useful for life in general. It has helped me to have a focus during lockdown.
One of the tasks that I did, helped me to learn the history of this religion, this was letter writing. My first letter I wrote was about Noah’s day. This was the story about how rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights,
Noah had to build an ark to survive. When Noah was told that there would be a downpour, this was my favourite part of the story. I like this part because he was given a chance to survive with enough time to build an ark.
You might recognise this story as the Jehovah’s Witness is part of the Christian religions. Even though this is not originally my family’s religion, I accept all religions and want to learn more. I was brought up with the Hindu religion but I don’t follow it much. The main reason I chose the Jehovah’s Witness religion is to help my nan learn about the new world system, as this is the religion that she follows. What I have learnt is that there will be a paradise on earth where all our past loved ones will come back to life, there will no more sickness, death and no more violence. I think this would be something good for other people to look forward to. This has made a big impression on me.
By Mathan
picture to colour in
be kind
Advocacy for All is an independent advocacy organisation and an equal opportunities employer. Charity no: 1064855.