Nahawand is from Baghdad, Iraq where she obtained a degree in teaching and was a schoolteacher. Nahawand had never left Baghdad, had never travelled anywhere until 2010 when she and her family had to leave because of the unrest in her country. Since then, she has lived in Glasgow and devotes her time to teaching children and teachers which she enjoys passionately.  

She wants society to not take our Earth’s wonderful environment for granted. Nahawand wishes that individuals can come together and unite to make a change and contribute to a good cause that will allow nature to flourish once again. A special appreciation to Berenice Berlan for her time, patience, and support as Nahawamd’s mentor.  

Aniqah was born and brought up in Scotland, from an Indian-Pakistani Iranian heritage. Aniqah feel like she has been sheltered from, privileged to, and naïve of climate issues specifically those affecting people in other countries such as her ancestors’.

Aniqah is grateful for this opportunity to interview people from diverse backgrounds in a series of podcasts as it gives women, who may not have an opportunity to be ‘given’ a voice, for our voices to be heard.  With the help and knowledge of her mentor Paula Nino, a Colombian woman doing an international master’s degree at Glasgow University, Aniqah has been able to highlight issues of climate justice through her podcasts and she hopes to continue this series beyond COP26 to include an ever growing catalogue of diverse voices.  

Amanda grew up in South Lanarkshire in the countryside and was very lucky to spend most of her life living in very scenic countryside areas. Growing up around nature is what made her appreciate the beauty of our earth and the need to protect it.

Amanda really hopes her song ‘This World Is On Fire’ makes people think about the throw-away culture that we have adopted and to treat the planet more kindly by using what we already have. She hopes that the video conveys how much “stuff” we throw away and how there is no need for the amount of rubbish in landfills etc. Amanda’s mentor Zhanna Kugotova provided invaluable support in her guidance and support with the music video.  Amanda would like to see this song becoming an anthem for COP26.   

Susy is from El Salvador and came to Scotland in 2019 with her 3 sons as an asylum seeker to escape the violence and corruption they were facing in her home country. Susy was a hairdresser in El Salvador and ran a successful hairdressing business for many years. Susy is a talented artist who has used single use plastic and other non-recycle plastics to create a decoration of art piece and jewellery.  

Susy wants to show how you can make beautiful things instead of throwing away items.  Too much plastic is in our oceans and affecting the fish and what we eat.  Susy wants to highlight this issue so that people learn to reuse plastic and not throw away as rubbish.  She has seen a film about the Great Pacific garbage patch and it really upset her that we, humans, are causing so much rubbish and killing the sea life. Susy has seen the beaches of El Salvador covered in plastic which has travelled across the ocean.  Susy wants to try to help other people to understand the damage that plastic is causing to the fish and to climate change.   

Through this exhibition Susy would really like to start a business providing kits to inspire others to make jewellery pieces and she would like to make bespoke pieces for special occasion for gifts. 

Meray is a Cypriot filmmaker based in Glasgow. Identity, environmental and social justice, peacebuilding in post-conflict has been the recurring themes in her films. She has been influenced by places and situations that humans normalise and tries to explore them from a different perspective.  

Meray would like to thank Zhanna Kugotova for her support with editing.  

Meray’s hope are that this film and films like these can be used in schools as an educational resource and encourage more people to understand the impacts of climate change on our planet.  

Heather is a 47 year old married mum of two young people. She worked for a supermarket for 21 years, a certain one that had a lot of customers who wouldn’t understand what food insecurities mean. Heather herself has experienced food insecurity as a family, but not to the same extent as people are facing now.  

Heather teamed up with her friend Menesia who felt the same about food and the benefits of growing to make a mobile garden. Having a garden that was accessible was paramount to Heather, she wanted anyone to be able to use it, and be able to keep everything together. Thanks to Scott at Galgael, our design changed and became so much better. 

Heather’s hope is to make more mobile gardens, or to help other groups build their own as they are simple to assemble and work beautifully. 

Born and brought up in Luderitz, Namibia, Menesia is deeply passionate about climate change and community development. She comes from a country that has all the natural resources to address climate change, food security and poverty. The wind and sun in her Kharas region which is where she resided can provide energy to the whole of Namibia.

Menesia wishes she could do something to save Mother Earth from the poor decisions taken which are not beneficial for the poor and needy in society. What she wants to stand together and get our leaders accountable for their decisions otherwise we will never be able to reverse the effects of greenhouse gasses and burning fossil fuels. She came to Glasgow with the eagerness to make positive changes and building this mobile garden from pallets and reusable materials shows anything is possible if you want a positive, sustainable change in your community. Menesia is a staff nurse and midwife by profession but is now studying Community Development at University of Glasgow to study Community Development. I also want a video to show the steps how me and my Scottish friend Heather Dundas have made our “Garden on Wheels” 

Farkhonda better known as Farah has been living in Glasgow since 2018. Currently, she is studying Business and IT. Farah took part in an online climate change leadership programme which made her look at the current climate crisis from a different perspective and take a step towards protecting the environment. 

Farah has been helped by her mentor Mariana Pintado-Zurita, a student at University of Glasgow from Mexico, to illustrate and display the photographs in a way best to discuss this climate crisis.   

Farah aims to use her academic knowledge to build a career which will benefit the environment and puts an end to the throw-away culture.  

Monica lives in Glasgow, Scotland. She moved to the United Kingdom 11 years ago. Last year, Monica did a course on Climate Change Leadership. During the course, she learned many things about climate change. In the process, Monica became more curious to know about the effects of climate change. Since then, she has been reading articles about this topic. 

This escape room will consist of puzzles, quizzes, and various challenges and most importantly FUN. This can be played individually as well as with family. Monica’s hope is that voices of local woman like us will be heard across the world through this COP 26, Glasgow. 

Simran was born brought up in Glasgow but has strong ties to Punjab as both her maternal and paternal grandparents are Punjabi Sikh immigrants.  Simran has recently started studying at University of Glasgow, but environmental issues are an important part of her life. 

Simran’s hopes for her artwork to be displayed in public settings so that she can raise awareness of social justice issues linked to the climate crisis. 

Simran was mentored by Chrisilia Philiastides, another student at University of Glasgow. 

Khabat Malarasheed born in Syria. Since her childhood she has been fascinated by nature, so she started to draw her world in words. Khabat has shared her poems at different festivals and events in her country. 

She wants to raise her voice and say that we all have a responsibility to protect the environment and the world together. For this exhibition Khabat is sharing her poem “Through My flowers”  

Khabat would like to thank her mentor Alibhe Harrison, a student at the University of Glasgow, for all her support.  

Sajida is a mother of two and a daughter of migrants from Pakistan. Her passion has been fashion and textiles, and from a young age has been behind a sewing machine creating many masterpieces. Sajida, for this exhibition, has designed and created a ball gown dress using discarded denim and tartan, giving old fabrics a new lease of life.

Sajida valued the support and talks on climate justice with Marsha Burke who is studying music at Glasgow University.   

Sajida would like to see this dress worn by the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon who stands for both gender and climate justice.   

Born and raised in Namibia, Nguatjitavi came to Glasgow three years ago for her own safety and security. Nguatjitavi has no family in Glasgow, and it has been difficult to connect to people here because of the restrictions imposed because of Covid. 

Nguatjitavi would like to give a special thanks to her mentors Eadan McSweeney from University of Glasgow and Paula Nino (for helping to edit the video).  

Zhanna has become an honorary climate sister as she has been on the journey with the whole project and the other women capturing on film our events, trips and special moments, she’s been with us step by step. In addition, as a mentor Zhanna created the soundscape for the piece with Meray Diner and created the music video for Amanda Bogle. Zhanna has also contributed with footage to assist the film maker Catherine Dunn.