My experience of writing ‘Sadiqa: An Empowering Story of Hope’
By Francesca Waite, Artist in Residence at Made By Mortals
‘Sadiqa’ is an audio story that allows the listener to walk in the shoes of a woman from the South Asian community who has experienced domestic and honour-based abuse and has left the abusive situation. It intends to give the listener a better understanding of how it feels to be this character. In the story, Sadiqa attends a women’s group, where she seeks to find her voice and learn how to become independent.
In order to develop the story, I met experts from the community with lived experience, in order to create an authentic, relatable narrative. Many of the women I spoke to had personal, lived experience of domestic and honour-based abuse, or knew somebody close to them who had lived in an abusive situation.
Listen to the trailer for ‘Sadiqa’ here:
To begin writing the story, I had to find out more about the character; who she was, what she did and who she lived with. It was important to know more about the abuse she experienced, those who perpetrated the abuse and how she responded to their actions. When creating audio stories at Made By Mortals, I am often joined in development workshops by experts from the community, as well as a colleague to facilitate the story-creation discussions. But with ‘Sadiqa’ it was different. My research began with one-to-one sessions with a handful of women who were happy to give their time, knowledge and experience on the sensitive and emotional subject. The story was quick to emerge, with the character’s name, Sadiqa, being decided in the first conversational session, along with some of her circumstances. The details of Sadiqa’s life grew with each subsequent conversation.
Following these discussions, I drafted an outline of the plot. At each stage of the story’s development, I shared what I had with the contributors, so that they could input on the authenticity of what I’d written. At this stage, I also began working with a larger group of women from the South Asian community at Bollyfit Active, a group which aims to support local women by providing a culturally appropriate environment to open up, socialise and stay active. Their input was vital in ensuring the authenticity of the cultural references, and they helped me to develop the plot into a breakdown of the scenes in the story.
Our character, Sadiqa, attends a Chai and Chat group, which was inspired by The Bollyfit Active group. Through dance and fitness, this group of women come together weekly, empowering and inspiring each other to believe in who they are. Witnessing how supportive and vibrant this group was, and the impact that the atmosphere and ethos have on the women who attend, I was inspired to create some of the characters in Sadiqa’s Chai and Chat group. This included Naseem, who Sadiqa looks up to, a business owner who had a similar experience to her and Rozina, the group leader, who keeps everyone together.
Following the group’s input came the drafting of the script. The various contributors were invited to a readthrough of a later draft, helping to test the authenticity of the story and dialogue. We were then ready to record! Made By Mortal’s audio stories would usually include the voices of real people with lived experience who had contributed to the story. In the case of ‘Sadiqa’ this was slightly different, as we wanted to maintain the anonymity of the women who shared their stories. However, we also wanted to remain true to the project’s intentions and include authentic voices, where possible. Happily, some of the women from the Bollyfit Active group were keen to participate in the recording, so that the audio story would feature voices of women from the South Asian community. The women who volunteered were also kind enough to translate short sections of the script into community languages and voice them for the recording, along with some improvised action, which was used as background sounds.
An important part of the project is when we return to those who contributed to the story for a listening party; where the listeners are fully immersed in the experience of hearing the final version of the audio, along with headphones and eye masks. Because this particular audio could raise sensitive and emotional issues for some of the listeners, we provided a quiet space outside of the room, if anyone needed it to retreat to. We followed the audio with a grounding exercise, to help the listeners disconnect from any negative or challenging emotions and move forward with the rest of their day. The group were moved by the story and keen for it to be listened to widely, in order for it to make an impact. It is our aim with ‘Sadiqa’ that those who listen will allow time to consider how they can support women like Sadiqa and how they might encourage conversation about what can be done to help.
‘Sadiqa’ was delivered with generous support from The Ideas Fund which is delivered by The British Science Association and funded by Wellcome.
