Creating Space Project

Ruth Wells works with Syrian refugees in a psychosocial organisation in Gaziantep, a town in the south-east of Turkey, 50km north of the Syrian border. Most of her colleagues are Muslim and wear the hijab.

As a non-Muslim Australian woman, Ruth reflects non-judgementally on what it is like being in a context where "gender is a little bit different to what I'm used to and what that has meant about what role I get assigned in those contexts."

Constructs of gender, sexuality, religion, power and the body emerge from this story. So does a surprising amount of laughter, despite our awareness of the backdrop, which is the horrors being perpetrated against Syrians.

Ruth reflects on the importance of admitting that you don't know, and of seeking the meaning in someone else's life.

"I feel like the work that I do, because it's outside my own culture, there's a danger of it being kind of potentially paternalistic or judgmental or whatever. So I feel like I need to have this other current that runs the other way which is about watching and observing and appreciating and trying to find the things there that are valuable to people, because surely, that's what people are building their lives on, the things that they value."

In an earlier episode of this podcast, Standing Your Ground, I interviewed three women occupying a house in the inner west of Sydney, Australia. The house was slated for demolition and the four of us sat in the grounds of the house around a table, with imaginary cups of tea, until we were arrested.

The purpose was to protest against Westconnex, an urban motorway extension in Sydney. The research indicates that urban motorway extensions, as well as being exorbitantly expensive, are damaging to health, community and environment, and actually encourage more cars onto the road.

Based on a still from a Russ Hermann video, Janet, a Sydney-based artist, created a painting depicting the four of us at the occupation.

Inspired by This Changes Everything and a talk given by Naomi Klein as part of the Sydney Peace Prize, Janet entered into environmental activism and non-violent direct action about a year ago. She became involved with the anti-Westconnex campaign in Sydney, through No Westconnex Public Transport and Save Sydney Park.

In this interview, Janet talks about how she uses her artistic passion and skills in her efforts to generate meaningful action on climate change, global warming and reducing the use of fossil fuels.

June Alexander grew up in a rural area of Australia.

When she was 11 years old, she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder.

"Why can't you behave like other girls?" her mother asked.

She was also given a diary.

"I was smitten, I found if I could write, I could connect with the outside world."

Writing a diary became a survival tool, a way of connecting with the outside world.

"It became a way of sharing thoughts that were crowding my mind and I had no one to share them with."

However, at the same time, the diary was also aligning itself with her mental illness.

"It became a way for the illness to emphasise rules and regimented life style."

When she received a correct diagnosis in her 30s, she started a long recovery journey. With guidance and help from a treatment team, the diaries became a healing tool. They became part of a process of discovering herself.

In her 50s, June realised the role that the diary had played in her life. She also came to realise the possibilities for other people in using diary writing as part of their recovery from an eating disorders.

June has written a memoir, A Girl Called Tim, and in 2014, she began connecting with other diary writers. Her hope was to write a book about how diary writing was helpful to her.

"The response was amazing. It was swift. In 24 hours, I had a hundred replies. I developed an ongoing relationship with seventy of them and they shared their raw diary excerpts from their private journals with me."

This was the material used to create a book, The Diary Healer, about using writing as a therapy for eating disorders.

June spends her time reaching out, in various ways, to support people struggling with mental illness.

"Recovery is indeed possible at every age. And that's the message that I love to give to people."

If you want to learn more about the work of June Alexander, please visit www.diaryhealer.com

Jodie asks her husband's grandmother, Marlys, about moving to Australia, pregnant, and becoming a new mother. At the time, her husband had started a new job and was extremely busy. Where they lived, they had no family support.

It may have been decades ago, but it's a familiar story for so many women:

Morning sickness.

Isolation. Loneliness.

Feeling "totally abandoned."

The overwhelming changes – to your body, to yourself, to your relationship with the baby's father.

That sense that you just don't know what you're doing. That you're struggling. That doubt in the life you have chosen.

"A time of great crisis."

"Everything around me had crashed."

"Looking back, I wonder how I managed. Somehow you got through it."

Then there's learning to breastfeed, learning to bathe the baby. There's feeling helpless, feeling "like a cow."

There's the feeling that being a mother should come naturally, and a sense of failure to feeling like you don't know what you're doing.

"I've got one job right now, and I can't do it."

Amidst all that baby sweetness, learning to parent can be really really tough. Especially if, like Marlys, you have what we now know to be post-natal depression.

Marlys grew up on the border of Switzerland and Germany, in a rural village, at the time of World War Two.

She describes her childhood as simple and very basic. Nothing was ever wasted.

Marlos vividly evokes those days for us – wind rippling through cornfields, pedalling uphill from school and fighting with her sister.

Frugality, respect, and working hard are the themes in this interview.

This is the story your grandmother tells you about different times. It's beautiful and strangely comforting.

"The elders come and we sit around and have a yarn. We sit around and tell each other stories."

Jayarna is Indigenous. As a child, her father left. As a result, she became disconnected from her culture.

Now, as an adult, she and her father have rebuilt a relationship. She has reconnected with her Aboriginal culture, which she describes as being a relationship.

"It's like something's missing and next minute you don't feel that anymore. And something's filled it."

This is a story to warm you in a time when the world seems bleak. It's about valuing culture and family. It's about developing your own sense of spirituality.

It's a story from an inspirational and humble woman. It was an honour to listen to her.

Ngan arrived in Australia as a 6-year-old with her family.

The second time they tried to escape from Vietnam, she was 2 years old. The boat capsized in a storm, and her father kept her and her 4-year-old brother afloat, with her mother, until they were rescued.

They spent four years in a camp before being given a visa to come to Australia as refugees.

In this interview, we hear about what it's like to settle as a refugee in Australia, coping with bullies at school, feeling grateful for support from the Australian community, and exploring the question of where you belong.

This interview reinforces my sense of gratitude that Australia has refugees.

Ngan is a powerful force for social good. She has spent most of her adult life supporting others who are in need.

Ngan loves to travel.

"Travelling and meeting people gives me that sense of belonging and then identity, and understanding where I fit in this world."

During a year of travelling the world, Ngan and her partner spent her birthday in Iceland. The experience, anticipated for ten years, was magical.

"It's a space that's so uninhabited by people."

Volcano ash. Fertile soil. Grass in abundance. Snow capped mountains.

Waterfalls with double rainbows. Drinking cold fresh water from streams that flowed down from the glacier.

"As if I'm a child again and I'm rediscovering all these new things around me."

Being in Iceland, in the enormity of its physicality, was a spiritual experience. It highlighted Ngan's values of being connected with nature, of being conscious that she is part of a bigger picture. The human, physical and spiritual forms of this world intertwine and co-inhabit, and in Iceland, Ngan was able to be very conscious of that, as well as of an inner space and freedom that opened up inside her.

"Being in a space like Iceland, it's just made me more self-aware of my space and where that relates to, I suppose, the world."

As a non-Muslim, I am unfamiliar with the Quran. So, I decided to go to Lakemba Mosque, in Sydney, where I was made to feel exceptionally welcome. I asked a young Muslim woman to share with me a verse that she finds particularly inspiring. The result is this interview.

Chapter 39 Verse 53

"Say Oh my servants who have transgressed against themselves by sinning, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the forgiving, the merciful."

For this young woman, this verse is about hope. It is an inspiration to be a better person.

She believes it is important to have a balance of hope and fear in life. She believes it is important to have a connection to something in life and, for her, that is religion.

My hope, for this interview, is that in listening, there is the opportunity to learn about what another person holds in common with me, as well as to simply notice, without judgement, what it is that separates us.

Always the Fourth Floor is the podcast episode you get when the sound guy needs a break.

It's a song written by myself, Ruth Nelson, and Ben Munday. Always the Fourth Floor is about working with refugees, newly arrived in Sydney, Australia.

We're not professional musicians. We just love music.

I've been pretty nervous about uploading this as an episode. But I guess I value taking a risk, especially the risk of failing and looking foolish. And my three year old keeps getting me to play this episode over and over. So... here it is.

Hope you enjoy the song. If you don't, forgive me and don't unsubscribe! We'll be back to normal the episode after next! Thanks for your patience.