Meet Me in Govan: taking steps to support the local community
A GCU student has teamed up with two local social enterprises to provide a safe space for the people of Govan.
Meet Me In Govan was set up by final year International Marketing student Michaela Ditrichova during her third year placement.
The brand new initiative, in partnership with Invisible Cities and Govan Community Project, aims to support the mental and physical health of locals through weekly walks. Participants, both old and young, also have the opportunity to open up on any personal issues and discuss their experience living in the area.
What originally started as a university placement became so much more for Michaela. She explained how she initially got involved:
“I knew we had a work experience placement in third year and I was working as a support worker in homeless accommodation at the time, so I wanted to help people in some way.
“I was aware of Invisible Cities and how they train homeless people to become tour guides in their local area – it’s a fantastic idea! I wanted to do something similar but wasn’t quite sure what I could do but I just decided to contact their founder, Zakia Moulaoui.”
Zakia agreed to take Michaela on board for the six-week placement and quickly recognised her potential.
Michaela said: “I was told I would be working on the ‘Invisible Neighbourhood’ project, with the idea basically being for me to highlight a local area within Glasgow.
“I chose Govan because I’ve lived there for the last nine years. It was amazing for me because Zakia gave complete free rein and said that I could focus on whatever I felt the community needed.”
Keen to impress, Michaela began to reach out to local organisations to expand on her idea of a community walking group.
She explained: “I knew I wanted to get people out into the fresh air in the same way Invisible Cities do. I eventually met Aileas from Govan Community Project and she told that they had wanted to do something similar in the local area, so it was perfect for us. We decided to team up and run weekly health walks that would be educational for people in Govan and the surrounding area.”
Michaela was able to use her marketing expertise to develop the brand and social media presence; as a result, Meet Me in Govan was born. Meanwhile, Aileas was in charge of risk assessments and planning the routes.
The first walk left the local Pearce Institute Building at 10am on the 27th of July and has continued every Wednesday at 10am ever since, surpassing the initial six-week pilot project…and Michaela’s six-week placement.
She said: “Once I started this project, I just couldn’t stop. It’s became a huge part of my life.”
Michaela and Aileas are also joined by walk leader Angie, who’s a tour guide with Glasgow Invisible Cities. Despite the obvious focus on Govan, Michaela explained that anyone is welcome on the walks.
She said: “It’s open to whoever wants to get involved – that’s the beauty of it. Sometimes we’ll have three people, other times we’ll have thirteen. It just depends on things like the weather, but we will always be there.
"The important part is that we’ve created a safe place for these people through a very simple focus: health, wellbeing and community development.”
Michaela added: “We tend to focus on six different topics throughout the walk: housing, work, culture and community, youth and education, immigration and languages, and sports and wellbeing.
“With work for example, we’ve had people talking about losing jobs, how they feel in their current role and why they’d like to change jobs. We were then able to provide some tips to help people apply for the next stage in their career.”
At the end of each walk, participants are invited inside the Pearce Institute Building for a further chat and well needed hot drink.
Michaela said: “The tea and coffee part is really important because it’s an environment where they can relax and feel safe.
“We’ve got regulars who come every week - the most important thing for Aileas and myself is just to listen.
“Some people like to get everything off their chest and then there are those who just like to take everything in. You can see folk talking to each other who have maybe had similar experiences with things like physical and emotional abuse.”
Meet Me in Govan has now been running for more than three months and Michaela has no plans to stop any time soon.
She explained: “I’ve always worked with people. I had a customer-facing job in the Czech Republic and I worked in hospitality when I first came here. I was also previously Vice-President at Glasgow Clyde College. I felt this was the right thing to do and it allows me to give something back to a community that has been so welcoming to me.
“It’s also very relaxing. I know that every Wednesday morning I’ll see the same faces. Angie, Aileas and myself have also became not only colleagues, but friends. We talk about holidays, our feelings and plans for the weekend.”
Michaela added: “It’s been great for me but I know the real benefit is to those who come along and get involved. Sharing whatever problem you have is never easy, and I’m very proud to play a part in helping people do that.”
You can find out more about “Meet Me in Govan” on their Facebook page
By Ross Clark
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter