Real stories from a refugee women’s group in Plymouth

Dove Tales was a Community programme at Theatre Royal Plymouth, aiming to provide a safe space and creative outlet for women who had come to Plymouth as refugees. Everyone had a story to tell.

I scribed what the women were saying in their conversation and then typed it up to give back to them. When I was transcribing, I was really trying to preserve different people's ways of speaking, to capture the essence of a person, their perspective and personality, as expressed in their real words.

The group wanted to record their stories, so we decided to compile a book. They edited my transcriptions of their converations into poems on different themes and then translated the poems back into their original languages, reflecting their amazing verbal skills. The book we created wasn't for other people to read necessarily. What was important was for them to have it for themselves - their book, their stories.

For more information visit http://www.sarahashfordhart.com/exchangingrealstories.html