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SEMOPF

Guest blog: Age Scotland, connecting people with nature

  • Social Inclusion

Our latest guest blog is from Age Scotland, who share more about their work with the Scottish Ethnic Minority Older People Forum (SEMOPF) and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - connecting people with nature by creating a ‘biodiversity book’. This is part of Age Scotland’s Diversity and Inclusion work and runs in tandem with Age Scotland’s advice, information and friendship work, which is possible thanks to KCCF’s support through a strategic partnership grant. Thank you to Rohini Sharma Joshi (Diversity & Inclusion Manager) and Fran Reid (Diversity & Inclusion Officer) at Age Scotland for writing this blog for KCCF.

About SEMOPF

SEMOPF is managed, supported and hosted by Age Scotland. The Forum is chaired by Mrs Mukami McCrum MBE and has 20 members, who are all older people from across Scotland, from different backgrounds and a wide range of ethnic minorities. The forum works to influence policy change and challenge the inequality and discrimination faced by ethnic minority older people, including poverty and barriers to accessing information and services.

 

Partnership with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Last year, Age Scotland arranged for SEMOPF members to attend a two-part biodiversity workshop with Paula Nino from the Royal Botanic Garden’s Community Team.

The session focused on sensory experiences and memories – attendees were taken outside to hear the sounds, feel and smells of the garden, and relate to plants through their senses. There followed a discussion on how our senses connect us with plants, teleport us back through our memories, and tell us about their use and stories.

Forum members shared stories about their childhood memories and specific plants that played a significant role; collecting and eating mangoes was a special event shared by many members! Learning about the role of colonialism and the consequent spread of plants around the globe was very interesting and sparked lots of great discussion.

SEMOPF

In the second workshop session, forum members spent more time outside and were asked to think about their first memories of nature and first time feeling a love for plants. To collect all these memories, everyone was asked to make booklets illustrated with drawings, thoughts and ideas. The colourful booklets were designed to look like the iconic glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Garden.

Participants in the workshop really enjoyed the sessions, saying

“Days like this keeps isolation at bay”

“Very informative and stimulating for all our senses.”