Starting with our fifth cohort back in 2021, our Head of Programmes Wieke has written poems to celebrate the end of the journeys of each graduating cohort of mentors and mentees.
In ‘Foggy Mornings’, written for our ninth cohort, she reflects on the languages of mentoring, and the web of support that our mentors, mentees, team and partners are a part of, both during and after their time with us.
You can watch and hear Wieke performing the poem in the video, or read the words below. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Foggy mornings
Celebrating Our 9th Cohort, February 2023
It’s been winter in London
So we’ve seen foggy mornings
Their miracles and stillness
With weather changing from north to west
Some already up, others still at rest
All of you sharing some of your best
In four months of mentoring
And so this is a time for gathering
As we are meeting here
To mark the end of your mentoring
And the start of spring
With daffodils popping up in the parks
This is a poem for celebration
It’s a poem for you all
As we come together
Last week online – or today in East London
For Bethnal Green is the place of Routes
The place where we put our roots
After the pandemic
And where we welcomed all of you in
With a Tech Day to begin
With a Mentee Launch and Mentor Training
And off you went, into your buddies and pairs
With so many dreams
– some new,
and some ready to repair
For the fog is also there
Helping us
To envision what may lay behind its drops
That which we cannot yet see
We know it’s there
It’s possibility
Things from before
Or new mysteries
To connect, or re-connect with
New routes
Waiting for us
As you’ve opened doors
Into new parts of your goals
Into new parts of your learning
As you spent your time -
Looking at courses
Gearing back into engineering
Finding ways to combine work with care
Or combine them into social work or healthcare
Thinking about law or psychology
Getting back into art
Combining mentoring with college
Or looking after little ones – or both
And so
After lots of time to deliberate
Today it’s time to celebrate
Your journey of connectivity
In your pairs, 1:1
With exercises, brave sharing, and fun
In the moments across 4 months’ time
With the rest of this group, with MP9
With public speaking in the Anson Room
Blog writing for lunchtime
Online communication online
Taking it Forwards on a Thursday
And in collaboration with us, the team at Routes
In worksheets and over WhatsApp
With Tamana Jan always being there
Reading your messages with so much care
Providing travel top ups
For an in -person chance
To look at your plans
And with that
We keep in mind
The things we cannot control
Within the means of this mentoring
The structures and systems
Adding additional stressors
And so we bring
Presence
Shared thinking
And practical help
Monthly updates and the Workspace
Linking to our Resources Database
Filled with opportunities, organisations
And things to talk through
Including some suggested by you
As together, you grew and grew
So congratulations to all of you
As your talents shone through
Each of you bringing different strengths to the mix
As we know there is no easy fix
But lots and lots of great things to work on
And while the clocks might be set on Greenwich
There’s many ways to write an alphabet
As you found your own ways of working
With your partner, with your cohort and with Routes
With all of you becoming
Both students
And ambassadors
of mentoring
Of relationship-based learning
Of step-by-step success
Some picking up a book to share
Others catching a nice podcast mid-air
Or thinking through a tree of life
And
Facilitators sharing their wisdom in workshops
With multilingualism being your superpower
As we hold so many languages amongst ourselves
Some of you doing meetings in your fourth language
Speaking up and listening
With all parts of our brains
And if we trace
The sounds of our speech
Across the globe
We know we hold so much of the world
In our words
And so
On behalf of Routes
I’d like to say a muchas gracias and shukran kteer
In all the languages that you hold dear
Thank you for your trust
And for being here
And when the future seems unclear
Let’s remember
We can embrace those sounds and our shared interests
Across industries and regional dialects
And the strengths of our vocabs
Like the spider’s web
We are creating here today in this room
The threads
Fragile but steadfast
It’s beauty visible
In the foggy mornings
And when systems are trying to keep us disconnected
Let’s keep clarity of vision
Let’s aspire to become architects
And design new ways of being
For when we look in the mirror now
When we catch our reflection
When we catch our breath
As we walk down the streets
And see ourselves reflected back
In a shop’s window
The face of your workplace
Or in a waterdrop
We see a connected community
We see what belonging can be
A group of people
Holding the threads of that web
Looking inwards
Stretching out
Celebrating London from north to south
Building bridges of kindness
Being willing to act
And also taking time to reflect
And so we know
For your next steps
Beauty awaits
Big and small
As it has been created by you all
Written and performed by Wieke Vink, Head of Programmes, Routes