Voicing the Climate Emergency
Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) and Makassar International Writers’ Festival (MIFW) came together to develop this project exploring climate justice and celebrating women’s resourcefulness.
The immediate devastation caused by climate crisis – whether flood, drought, or fire – has the greatest impact on areas without resources, and women, who make up the majority of the world’s deprived populations, suffer the worst of its effects. Women are also affected by the knock-on effects of climate change, whether in the increasing difficulty of finding water, food, and fuel, increasing miscarriage and child mortality, or as displaced victims of the conflicts erupting over the scarce resources of depleted land. Cities are overwhelmed by pollution, water shortages and inadequate housing – all impacting on women the most. Women’s testimonies thus vividly reveal the human costs of climate change and the pressures that create refugees. But women are not only victims; because they live so close to the issues, they can see what needs to be done.
In Indonesia, the MIWF team worked with indigenous communities which have suffered the most from the impact of climate change and specifically with youth and women from the Kaluppini Indigenous Community in South Sulawesi, focusing on the women’s resourcefulness and knowledge of the land that can feed and heal, involving local teenagers and women to collect and archive edible plants used as source of food and traditional medicine.
In Wales, we worked with the Swansea Women’s Refugee and Asylum Support Group. Women from diverse backgrounds participated in the project facilitated by poet-performer Rufus Mufasa and creative writing tutor Jeni Williams, and documented by photographer and video maker Saba Humayun. The women takig part, some with their children, were Aruni (Sri Lanka), Edna (Kenya), Hadeel and Maryam (Syria), Erica and Jennie (El Salvador), Fatema and Manaah (Saudi Arabia), Ibtisam (Egypt), Funmilayo (Nigeria), Somayeh (Iraqi Kurdistan), Blessing (Zambia).
Following a series of workshops, a public sharing with a panel of five speakers took place in the Waterfront Museum.
Watch a video about the project by one of the participants, photographer and filmmaker Saba Humayun.
Watch the poetry video created by Rufus Mufasa:
Read the e-book edited by Rufus Mufasa
Photos: Saba Humayun
The project, which ran from 14 April until 1June 2025 was supported by British Council’s ‘Connections Through Culture Fund’.