Apna Ghar

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Home is ...
... where my children are
... the innocence of childhood
... where the air smells familiar
... being close to those I love ...

The journey to Apna Ghar (Our Home) began in other homes and other places. We live in a world where we take for granted the movement of people around the globe - but if we live in a global village, where or what is home?

In January 2006 a group of local British Asian women were trained to gather stories from within their communities. They talked to family and friends about their lives, the world around them, the thresholds they had crossed and what "home" meant to them.

Revealed were many common experiences, but many more unique events and views. This recorded material formed the basis of a site-specific production in an old Victorian School in Wednesbury.

Stories of home - homes left behind and new homes made. Stories of school and children's games, of separation and duty, of pink cities and terraced houses, cornflakes, chips, chapattis and dahl. Travelling across continents, adapting to change, discovering lands of colour - women adapt and survive the many journeys from the innocence of childhood through to marriage and adult life.

Through live performance, recorded interview, music, sound and dance, the audience were taken on a journey through the lives of these women: their strength and determination, their hopes and their desires.

This production was inspired by the stories of Asian women in the Black Country. With our thanks to all the women who gave their time and voice in the making of this project.