History of Transition Lighthouse: by Nicole Shodunke, as told to Tany Alexander
“In 2013 I started training as a life coach. I would listen to a lot of Muslim sisters, and when they had issues, and I knew of a service that could help them, I would signpost them so they could get some help. I wanted to help.
“Because of this work, I was invited in 2016 to assist with some research into FGM being carried out in the community with the involvement of the County Council and the University of Oxford. Dr Emma Plugge from Oxford University Hospital research department commissioned this FGM research commissioned in collaboration with Nigerian, Kenyans, Sudanese and Somalian Communities.
“From working with the focus groups for this project I could see the value for women of meeting together – they really wanted a place to meet. “In 2017 I found a room to rent in Blackbird Leys Community Centre and we started to meet. But we had no funding, and it was expensive, so I set up a CIC so that I could apply for it. A lady called Jackie (an employee of the County Council at the time) helped with the formalities (like safeguarding and child protection training – understanding English Law was really helpful to us as a mostly African group) and encouraged and empowered us, and Transition Lighthouse had begun!”
“I was led to the work when I began to understand some of the dynamics of my own personal life better – some of these were very painful – and as I grew through them I understood how we as Black women need to empower ourselves within our families, communities and in the landscape of UK culture. For example, people of a Nigerian or Caribbean culture are very reluctant to report crimes to the police.
“I embraced the training I had from Pearline Blackstock on domestic violence from the perspective of Black women (what does it look like, how do we react?) and parenting (what are the issues for us?) as well as the Neuro Linguistic Programming training and family systemic course I was doing. I find this a very compassionate way to work with these issues.”