This tour is part of the Warm Welcome Walks 2020, a series of walks organised by the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts. To find out more about the whole series, please visit this website.

Open Aye looks forward to hosting a UNESCO RILA Warm Welcome Walk, to celebrate and share learnings of their Well-being of the Woods (WOW) project!

The WOW Project has been providing well-being-enhancing, urban woods based participatory photography workshops, to diverse groups in Glasgow, Scotland, since 2017. To date, approx. 200 people, from around 20 countries, have taken part in 250 visits to green spaces. 80% of project participants have had experience with seeking sanctuary. This is a feel good photo project that welcomes, enhances creativity, encourages cultural exchanges and appreciates nature.

Just in time for the International Day of Peace (on the 21st of September), our WOW Warm Welcome Walk will take a small, physically distanced, Covid-complient group (!) on a wander round the woods, to admire autumns changes and discuss the WOW project methods & impacts. We can share & swap learnings on best practices for guiding folk in safe, nature based creative spaces, which can help with health & well-being.

To be prepared for our walk please bring a charged phone for camera use (or another camera, if preferred), comfy shoes, warm layers, a snack and a cup (for herbal tea, which will be provided). Be prepared for walking up to 1 hour at a time. We move fairly slowly and there will be stops and seats along the way, but we do go off track onto uneven ground (to get really immersed in nature!).

Further meeting instructions will be provided in the booking confirmation. If you have any further questions about this walk, please contact the UNESCO Chair secretariat on unesco-rila@glasgow.ac.uk.

We look forward to seeing you on our WOW Warm Welcome Walk!