About us
We are a brand new drama group of 12 people: 10 members of Waling Waling and 2 theatre practitioners.
Waling Waling is a migrant domestic workers' organisation. The group was formed by undocumented domestic workers and still campaigns for basic rights for migrant domestic workers.
Our project
We meet every Sunday for 3 hours of drama and creativity sessions at the Old Diorama Arts Centre.
Together, we are making a piece of theatre that will be performed for International Migrants Day on 18 December. We will perform twice: at Unite in Holborn, to other community groups, and at St Margaret's House in Bethnal Green, to a wider audience. If you donate, we'll invite you, too :)
Why are we doing this now?
- To provide a trauma-informed space in which the group can experience creativity, fun and joy in an environment that is protected and held
- To create a strong piece of theatre for International Migrants Day that supports Waling Waling's campaign for basic rights for migrant domestic workers (see below)
- To share the benefits of a creative and collective practice with members of Waling Waling
Our vision
It's our ambition to tour the show around the UK in 2025. We have already had interest from a number of other cities interested in hosting us.
We want more audiences to understand Waling Waling's campaign (see below) but also, to be part of the broader movement to challenge the increasing hostility in the UK.
Background - Waling Waling's history of making theatre
In the 1990s, Waling Waling members Anna, Clem and Mellit created a piece of forum theatre about the challenges faced by migrant domestic workers. It was a high quality piece of work which toured to various Trade Union and Political events, including the Labour Party Conference in 1997. As a result of this, and Waling Waling's campaigning activity, the group won their campaign for the rights of migrant domestic workers (see below).
Now, Anna, Clem and Mellit want to enable the newer members of Waling Waling to experience making a piece of theatre for the new campaign.
They have joined forces with theatre practitioners Drashti Shah and Cheryl Gallacher to offer weekly drama sessions and make two performances.
Why are we fundraising?
So far, we have done everything for free, thanks to generous support:
- The Old Diorama Arts Centre have kindly provided free studio space for our weekly sessions.
- The Waling Waling committee has supported the project and recruitment
- Unite the Union have offered us a free performance space
- St Margaret's House have offered us a free performance space.
What will we do with the money raised?
- Travel expenses for our group to attend drama sessions (based on 10 participants receiving £5 towards their TFL travelcard over 13 sessions = £600)
- An acting fee for our participants, so they can take two days out to rehearse and perform (10 participants receiving a £100 fee for 2 days = £2000)
- A fee towards our two practitioners' time for the preparation, planning and delivery of the project over 5 months (£3200)
- A small budget for props and costumes (£375)
More on Waling Waling
In 1997/98, the group won the campaign to give basic rights for Migrant Domestic Workers. It established the Overseas Domestic Workers visa, allowing workers who had been brought to the UK to switch employers, settle, and apply for their family and dependents to join them in the UK.
Why a new campaign is needed now:
- In April 2012, the coalition government altered the rules. They made it more difficult for workers to escape abusive employers. Domestic workers could still technically switch to a new employer if they left an exploitative employer – but they could still only work for as long as their visa is valid (6 months max). The visa is not renewable and domestic workers cannot switch to a different form of leave to remain in the UK while here – even if they are escaping abuse.
- These rule changes made it very difficult for employees to escape abuse without being threatened with removal if they overstay their visa. Few employers will hire a domestic worker midway through a six-month visa. But domestic workers cannot be without an employer and remain legally in the UK.
- As the majority of domestic workers are migrants, traveling with their employers from many different countries, it is easy to see why they are allowed to be exploited and abused without legal protections in the UK. Unfortunately, colonialism and racism are much in evidence.
- Now, Waling Waling, along with other organisations, are campaigning to have the Domestic Workers Visa restored.
Waling Waling's campaign
- For the UK government to sign, ratify and implement the International Labour Organisation's convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C189).
- In solidarity with all undocumented migrants and refugees in the UK, Waling Waling joins the campaign for regularisation of all, knowing that as human beings we have legitimate rights to travel in order to create a decent life for ourselves and our families. Worldwide, people have travelled for this since the beginning of time - migrating is not a crime.
About the theatre practitioners on the project:
- Drashti Shah is an arts-based therapy practitioner leading projects in education, leadership, and socio-emotional learning with children and adults. She completed her MSc in Creative Arts and Mental Health from the Queen Mary University of London. She holds a graduate degree in Bharatnatyam and her work has spanned across non-profits in India. She is currently working with the Queen Mary University of London and London Arts and Health. She believes in the social and emotional wealth that arts engagement and creation offer people and communities through intrinsic, systemic, and cultural transformations, and has facilitated arts-based therapeutic work with vulnerable young people in India and London.
- Cheryl Gallacher is a theatre practitioner with extensive experience making theatre with young people and professional performers. Her work has toured across the UK (Camden People's Theatre, Cambridge Junction, Oxford Playhouse, Theatre in the Mill Bradford to name a few). As a facilitator, she has a trauma-informed practice and is interested in non-hierarchical processes in which everyone can author and make theatre together.