Portraits of Resilience: Sunshine

Our Portraits of Resilience bring together powerful portraits and personal stories from women who’ve walked through our doors at Bramber Bakehouse. As you explore these stories, we invite you to stand with us as we step into the next decade of hope and healing.

You may notice the blank image above. Resilience looks different for everyone. Some women are still
at risk and it is not safe for their identities to be disclosed. Others do not feel comfortable with sharing their image. We respect every woman’s journey. Their stories are no less important.

I was photographed with a sunflower because they are the sunshine flower and very beautiful. Its bright yellow petals evoke feelings of cheerfulness and happiness. I love the bright yellow of sunshine because it reminds me of my home country. Sunshine symbolizes joy and adoration. You always feel happy when you look at a sunflower.  

I came to the UK some years ago and have since claimed asylum recently receiving my refugee status. I first discovered Bramber Bakehouse when I was living in a safe house. I was frustrated because I could not work at that time and was tired of doing nothing, so I was really happy when the baking class was suggested.  

I wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the class but once it got going, I found I was good at it. I’ve been in love with baking ever since!  

The day after the first class, I immediately started baking for the other people from my house. I began with the cookies we had made from the leftover dough which I shared within the house.   

In the classes I learnt how to make cakes, cookies, foccacia – before that I had only made a few pastries from my country a couple of times. I liked the foccacia so much. 

The people at Bramber were lovely, beautiful people. They made us feel so welcome and always asked us, ‘How are you, how has your week been?’ The teacher and volunteers taught us gently how to bake, correcting us if we made mistakes. If I was making bread and included too much water, they would say, ‘No problem, you can add some extra flour.’ If we didn’t know how to do something, we always had support.  

I enjoyed talking with the group and eating together. It was interesting to get to know other cultures with women from different countries. Before that I was always on my own or just speaking with the people in my house. For the first time in my life, I went to the beach which I loved. I learnt about the mindfulness technique of focusing on my five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing. I worked on personal affirmations like, I am happy, I am bold, I can do it, I am beautiful. I still speak these words to myself. 

I found it hard to go back to my house when it was time for the class to end. I just wanted to stay. Most of us did not want it to come to an end. I was pleased to get the recipes and often lucky to get some of the leftover ingredients like an egg or some butter. It was great because I was always baking, baking, baking!  

My favourite is carrot cake. I bake to share – with my neighbours and friends. When I Iived in a big city, I would call up my friends to tell them I was baking and even if they were far away, they would come to my house to collect it from me. My housemates are always happy when they see me in the kitchen cooking and taste my food first before it goes out elsewhere. It makes me feel good using my hands to produce something from a few simple ingredients. Baking brings me so much joy – and I love getting positive reviews of what I have made.  

After doing the class, I started volunteering with Bramber and some charity shops. I went onto college to study English and Maths. The programme made me feel like I could do activities without feeling afraid or insecure. I was able to talk to people, go out and seek the support I needed.  

I am now working in the care sector. I love looking after people to make sure they are safe, and have everything they need. It makes me happy to help them feel better.  

In the future, I want to be both a professional baker and a nurse. I’d be interested in studying more about cookery at college but I would also like to be a midwife and help women giving birth. I would have to study at university for a long time to do that but believe I can do it.  

I have always seen myself as a normal person, not a victim. At Bramber, we were always told, ‘You are not alone, you have support.’ All these words made me feel good. It is tough to keep going but I know I have to focus on perseverance. I need to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forwards.  

Thank you to Sarah Weal (photographer), Katherine Maxwell-Jones from iMix (storyteller) and Julia Smith (floristry artist) for your careful care and support enabling us to share these stories with the world.