At IESE CIC, we are dedicated to inspiring innovation, creativity, and transformation in the public sector and in communities across the UK.
Of the team’s latest efforts in driving inspiration in communities, Asim Girach, CareCubed Implementation Analyst, delivered a spoken word poetry workshop for young people in a summer school event.
Asim has previously provided workshops on spoken word poetry at schools, community centres, and mosques throughout communities, bringing a potential new art of expression to young people in the UK.
The Power of the Spoken Word
Asim has been producing spoken word poetry and performing his poems for 8 years and in the last year, Asim has started workshops on spoken word poetry for children. Although it was unexpected, it has become an opportunity to deliver a message while instilling hope and positivity.
Having recently delivered his 8th workshop this year, he continues to find the engagement and approach of young people in spoken word poetry inspiring and empowering.
For Asim, his community workshops work hand-in-hand with his work at CareCubed.
“As an implementation analyst, you’re looking to deliver a message or deliver a teaching or training to the audience. And sometimes you have to tailor your training to someone who is brand new to the systems. It is the same way in which you engage with children, someone who may be good with literature and someone else may not like this at all. And you tailor it towards what you are looking to achieve with that audience.”
Poetry and literature are common forms of self-expression, and Asim’s work with spoken word poetry provides a new landscape for children to learn how to express themselves.
As a performing art, spoken word poetry enables not just verbal expression, but physical expression through movement. It encompasses something vastly different and encourages emotional investment and deeper responses. It is a performing art and brings children into literature and arts to explore both areas.
Spoken Word Workshops
Asim had done performances for adults, but working with children was new to him. Asim had a couple of groups in the day, year 7’s, 8’s and 9’s. For this, he planned a lesson plan to go through and delivered live performances for the children, highlighting the importance of self-expression while relaying his own origin story.
Asim performed his own poem ‘My Brother.’
“And you know what, he was right. As I flick through the chapters in my life-
I’ve had to fight demons all in my head.
With each instance of “love” that I fell.
Heartbroken at fake friends.
Locked up, close to penn.
Losing everything, I had forgotten myself.
Losing faith, spiritually condemned.
And some stuff, I cannot recall, comprehend, let alone begin to tell.
And yet,
Fifteen years on, he inspires me daily, reminding me: “Asim, you are strong. No, not in big muscle, because what’s a big bicep compared to a bigger heart?
Addressing each situation and episode:
Mental pain is real, but so is hope.
Don’t fall in love, but rise to it sincerely with soul.
You never lose friends, you discover who the true ones are.
Forget the mistakes and learn from the lesson with heart.
Return back, no matter how many times you’ve broken your vow.
You are not alone, I am here to remind you who you really are.
And no matter what happens, “La taqnatu min Rahmatillah!”- Translated as “Never despair in the Mercy of your Lord”. And I get some next level peace and calm. Totally at bliss and centred at self.”
Following this introduction to spoken word poetry, he delved into the lesson plan, introducing word association and how to mentally build stories. This was delivered as a game. Using a soft toy, thrown from one side of the room to the other, the children would come up with a word, and the next would have to think of what the next word would be. This could include word associations such as “storm – cloud – rain – umbrella – coat – jumper – t-shirt”, and so on. The word associations could get very abstract, which helped to get the children thinking about how words can be used creatively, and to help themselves.
After this, there was another activity. This activity was to set up a theme of understanding “Where Do I Belong?” for a spoken word poem that the children would write and recite. The concept behind this was that the children would look at where they were from and then discuss the senses that help them to understand where they are.
Asim provided prompts, such as ‘When you walk home, what is the first thing you hear? What is the first thing you smell? What is the first thing you do?”
Responses to this prompting would range from ‘I would smell food cooking’ to ‘I hear my dog barking’ and so on. From this, their poems would start off with ‘I am from a place where I hear my dog barking…’ and would then flow to describe belonging. At the end, this generated a safe space for the children to express themselves and their identity.
The Impact of the Workshops
The workshops enable children to explore self-expression and creativity in new ways that may be otherwise unknown to them. After the recent workshop, many children thanked Asim for the workshop and expressed that it was helpful, exciting, and unique.
Exploring ideas and the senses using spoken word poetry in these workshops also helps children to learn introspective skills that can help them understand themselves and their experiences better.
Asim has been informed by students that these workshops have inspired them to start writing or return to writing after a period of writer’s block, reporting that they want to achieve this through this medium. This feedback makes his work even more rewarding, seeing that this is having a positive impact on the young people who attend.
Teachers who attended the most recent workshop found the workshop to be helpful and inspirational.
“Thanks for coming down today; it went well overall, especially with the Year 8s and 9s.
I really liked the theme around home and where you’re from. I think it got the kids thinking about their roots and identity. I also thought your own poem about your journey through school and how writing became an outlet was the strongest part of the session. Overall, we really enjoyed it, and I think the students got a lot from it.”
The Future of the Workshops
Asim continues to provide workshops as he can around his work with IESE, while also performing his poems for adults and events.
He has, and still does, perform with famous individuals, notable speakers, and singers, but for Asim one of his proudest accomplishments is the change he can deliver through his workshops for young people. He intends to keep going with his creative, expressive work.
“Sometimes when you are stuck in the dark, you need to create your own light. You have everything you need, as everything you need is already within yourself, and the way to find what is inside yourself is, for me, to write. We all need it in such a way, it can help you figure out what is going on within. I found it helpful for me, and I want to continue to pass this on.”
The work of giving back to communities is something that IESE strives to continue to do, as an organisation and in the altruism of the team. As a community interest company, IESE is focused on driving positive outcomes for organisations, communities, and individuals across the UK.
