How little do we know about our fellow passengers in life?
Walk Day 20
By Nancy
Richards, Founder Woman Zone and The Women's Library and Blocktober walker
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| Spotted on the streets of London |
The first
two weeks of Blocktober, my Steps for Saartjie were taken on the streets
and train stations the length and breadth of the UK. Not least in the belly of
the beast, on the London Underground where human conditions are, well - close.
It’s not really Tube etiquette to stare, nor even catch the eye of fellow
passengers, but as a foreigner (though in London, show me who isn’t foreign one
way or another) you can’t help but wonder about the lives of all these people
with whom you are so tightly pressed. So unless you have your thumbs on your
device, or less likely, a book in hand, there is much opportunity to cast a
glance and speculate on this collective, commuting United Nations, on who they
are and how these lives are playing out.
What are
they wearing, and what does what they’re wearing say about their profession,
origins, history, economic or relationship status? And their body language,
facial expression – what does that say about their state of mind, their joy,
suffering, anxiety or creativity? Of course, you can’t possibly ask –
the most communication you can expect is an apology for pushing, or being
pushed into pushing, or a small act of kindness in the offer of a seat. Or
perhaps a tender smile at someone cradling their dog – dogs are ubiquitous Tube
travellers these days.
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| How little do we know about our fellow passengers in life? |
Taking it
one step further, how little do we know about our fellow passengers in life,
and how much do we assume? From the news across all media in the UK, it’s clear
that we can certainly assume a measure of gender-based violence occurs, in all
communities.
Anonymity is
not exclusive to Londoners on the move – it applies across the world. We just
don’t know one another, nor, unless we are prepared to listen, do we have any
idea what baggage others may be carrying, and what, if anything, we can do to
lessen their load.
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| The Feminist Library in Peckham |
On my travels in the UK, I had the opportunity to visit three libraries – the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics, the Feminist Library in Peckham and the Glasgow Women’s Library. In each case, their shelves were groaning under the weight of women’s words over, in some cases, many centuries. Well, not every woman is going to get her story into print, but many women have a story to share, and in doing so, her load may well be lightened.
So perhaps taking Steps
for Saartjie, is also an opportunity to listen to another woman’s story as
we walk together – not forgetting that many men have loads that need to be
lightened too. To echo Jean du Plessis’s maxim then, let’s Listen, Learn,
Think and Act – more.
Quick links
- Please donate - Saartjie (SBC) needs donations of about R11 000 per day in October!
- Read other blogs in the series
- More about donations, including tax info and barometer
- Future walks
- Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava
Next Steps for Saartjie walk in Cape Town
- Date: 21 October 16.30 pm
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Duration: 2hrs, 7.5km
- Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.
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