Celebrating our winter cohort, January 2021

On the evening of 28th January, mentors and mentees from our 2020-21 programme came together to connect and celebrate one another. Routes’ Mentoring Programme Producer, Wieke, wrote and performed this beautiful poem for the cohort, which we are proud to share with you!

Scroll down beneath the video to read the poem

Four months ago

Twenty journeys started

Forty women

Mentors and mentees

Had training

Met

While the leaves were falling

As captured by Mutiat’s camera

We never met in real life

But you met

On your screens

On your phones

Having meeting after meeting

Getting to know each other

Getting to know yourself

You worked on

Setting goals

Making a plan

Taking it forwards

University applications

English

Confidence

And getting to know the job market

While London was in lockdown

It wasn’t always easy -

There was fear about Corona

Loved ones to look after

Bad internet connections

But you kept going

Week after week

You had your meetings

Attended our sessions

Some of you read a book together

Some practised their make-up

Some joined a workshop

Some worked on CVs

You discussed your weekends and wellbeing

Talked about your homes, your hopes

Dreamt big

Learning from the skills of others

Discovering the strengths in yourself

You showed resilience

Creativity

Patience

Perseverance

Joy

As you talked about what may come next

And reached out to Routes if you needed it

And here we are

January 2021

Snow has fallen over the weekend

And it is sunny again

It is celebration time

Forty women

Coming together to celebrate

The achievements

Big and small

The lessons learned

The relationships built

We feel fulfilled

Satisfied that we could walk this journey with you

Grateful

That while we have never met

We have seen you reach out your hands to each other

And we will keep going

One step after the other

Into a London that will see spring again

Outside

Do you hear the birds sing?

They are cheering us on

They are welcoming a new season

They are celebrating

Because they know

That with support

Women empowering women

We are learning

We are growing

We are strong

By Wieke Vink, for our fifth cohort of mentors and mentees