Kwesia Final
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Hello and welcome to Nature Fix with me, Claire Hickinbotham

. Every month we take you with us as we meet the people who spend their time outside and join them in a place that most inspires them. Today we're on the banks of the Thames to meet podcast host, doula and video producer quiz AKA city girl in [00:01:00] nature.

Kwesia overcame huge challenges while growing up in Southeast London, but it was a transformative trip in the Peruvian jungle that not just helped her heal from her own experiences, but also left her wanting to inspire others, especially people living in inner cities. Two tiny people benefiting from this are her two children, and her journey with motherhood has only added to her sense of wonder about the natural world.

Wow. I have arrived in London, having got a train here, delayed train, which is quite stressful. Then been chewed up by the tube, but emerged outta a tube station across the River Thames under the. Glare of Baty Power Station into the most immense park I think I've ever seen, and I'm here to meet somebody whose life has been changed by [00:02:00] discovering nature.

We're gonna have a walk around Battersea Park and we're gonna talk about motherhood and what being in nature can do for moms and for kids as well. Hi. Nice to meet you. Hi. You're, yes, you are a city girl in nature. Yes. So how far have you come across the city to be here today?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Probably about an hour. Transport here is great, so it can get around quite quickly.

Claire Hickinbotham: What's that feeling like when you get off a tube station and you emerge into somewhere like Battersea Park?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Breathtaking. Especially on a day like this, the sun's out. There's a subtle breeze, so the trees. I'm moving a bit. I like to say to my son, actually, when it is windy, the trees are dancing. Um, that's nice.

And yeah, so just like coming into this type of space, it's just really calming as well. And grounding. If you can see, even on the left, there's a really good kind of wetland area here where people actually go on paddle boats. [00:03:00] I dunno if you can see those over there. Those are, I think they're. Coots if I see correctly.

Should we go over and have a quick look? Yeah, let's have a little look at what's over here.

So yeah, there's quite a, a variety of wildlife in this park as well. It's just that breeze coming in though. Breeze. It's really nice. Breeze is lovely on a hot day in London. Um, I dunno if you can see over there as well, just in the distance, there's kind of like a nest there. Mm-hmm. That's in the, the beauty of city wildlife as well.

In particular, they find ways to strive and which is really beautiful if you ask me. They find materials that are urban and. They're using it within their structures of their homes. Do we think that's mom a little bit further out into the pond?

Claire Hickinbotham: Maybe because that one looks like it's looking for food or there's one coming in, there's another.

So I think he's [00:04:00] calling for mom because she's swimming over at quite a pace. Yes, that is mommy, I think it is. That's so sweet. You've got two children, haven't you?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Yes. One's a baby. Yes. So in a

Claire Hickinbotham: buggy?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Both. In a double deck. In a double deck, yeah. So

Claire Hickinbotham: I just remember when my kids were little and they're about two years apart, that if they weren't in the double buggy, I got them out so they could have a walk in a park.

One would always fly forward. And one would always lag behind and it was all, which one do I go to? And it's almost what this Coots doing. She's found one of her kids and is now looking for the other.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: My youngest is 10 mum and my eldest is two and a half. And when we are in parks also, I let them out and free.

And my eldest is usually running around with sticks. When he says my magic stick, I've got the magic stick, and then my youngest is actually eating the stick, so I'm like trying to get the sticks out his mouth. He doesn't choke, but they're [00:05:00] just, yeah. Sometimes when you look at nature, you see yourself as we're speaking because we are nature essentially.

I like to say that a lot, just that clear example and we've been able to relate to it in our own ways as well. There's so much around us that when you take a moment to notice and take it in, you do really start to see that the world and us are coexisting. Mother Earth, earth, nature. We are coexisting alongside each other.

Claire Hickinbotham: I love to imagine what they might be thinking and saying, I dunno whether that's through having kids. 'cause I probably didn't do it before I had kids. If I was stood here with mine, I'd be going Wait for me. Oh mate, there's four ducks over there and like I imagine them going, come on lads, we're at the back.

We're gonna miss out. Maybe just me. Should we carry on walking?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Yes.[00:06:00]

Claire Hickinbotham: So as we walk, can I ask you about when you grew up? Because obviously now you've got kids and you are giving them an experience that's full of nature. Whereabouts in London did you grow up?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: So I grew up in Deptford, which is in southeast London, uh, near an estate called Peeps Estate. Growing up for me, I.

Wasn't at all connecting with nature in the way that I am. And as you say, giving back to my children. When I was younger, I didn't really connect with nature unless I was playing football, because football was my passion growing up and was kind of my escape. I was fortunate to be growing up in a house that actually had a garden, but I never spent time in the garden.

I wasn't allowed in the garden. Funny enough, uh, my mom would either say. Uh, it's too cold or the grass, the st. Stinking nettles, like there would always be something to [00:07:00] why I wasn't really allowed in the garden. So it was, it's quite interesting to hear that as well, but it's kind of what had happened with me growing up.

I was quite disconnected, I'd say, until I had quite a serendipitous moment when I went to the Amazon. And then I was submerged in nature for three weeks, and that's really where things shifted for me.

Claire Hickinbotham: I wanna talk about your time in the Amazon 'cause. Like you say, that was the moment, wasn't it, where it all kind of made sense for you.

So you were quite young just into your twenties when you went to the Amazon?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Yes. So I, I turned 20 in Amazon actually.

Claire Hickinbotham: So it's a good place to have a birthday, isn't it? But you'd had a lot of, so you're, you are growing up, you're not allowed in the garden, you've not got a lot of access to nature, but you had a series of quite hard events happen to you while you were a teenager, I guess.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Growing up, my grandmother lived in our house and I was a young carer for her. She had Parkinson's. [00:08:00] Alzheimer's. And yeah, it was, it was quite a big transition for me because I went from being in primary school and my mom having most of her attention on me, to then having my grandmother who was really sick, lived with us.

So I was very much helping with the care of my grandmother. Uh, she sadly passed away and then two years after that. My auntie was murdered by my uncle in honor kill, and then two years after that my friend actually got stabbed. So really tough years. And you're just a teenager while this is happening.

Yeah. So I was like under 17 when all those events happened and then a year after that I was homeless, uh, due to my mental wellbeing kind of falling apart. All these events, my friend dying from knife crime really triggered those years before and I guess the trauma that I had faced and not understanding [00:09:00] why these things were happening to me.

Claire Hickinbotham: How conscious do you think you were at the time? All of these things happening? That they were building up and they were impacting on you, or would you think perhaps you were too young for to realize the impact you were having?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: For sure. I think I was definitely too young to really comprehend what was happening to me, and I think there's something called the ACE ACE scores, so adverse childhood experiences that actually they say the body keeps the score and stuff like that actually stays within our bodies.

I'll be honest, coming from my background, it's not uncommon. To have these types of experiences. A lot of people that I've grown up around, we all know at least like minimum two to five, like people that have died through knife crime or in ways that aren't, I guess the regular for a lot of people. So yeah.

It is a [00:10:00] lot, you know?

Claire Hickinbotham: And then where in that journey did the Peruvian trip come up as an opportunity?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: So 2016 is literally when I was homeless. 2015 is when my friend was murdered. And 2013 was when my auntie died in the honor killing. And 2011 is when my grandmother passed away. So those were the years.

That all of those stuff happened and those events. But in 2018 I was doing some work with a project called Black Minds Matter, Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network under them, who is actually local to here. So I was doing some work with them and we went into a youth club where basically. Black Minds Matter was about building social change leaders and offering alternative therapies, so like yoga, music therapy rather than talking therapies.

I was introduced to yoga a session and [00:11:00] I cried actually at that session, and for me, that was a moment that I realized there's things out there that really can heal us from some of the stuff we're holding in. Even if we're not subconsciously tuning into that, and I really wanted to introduce that into the Black Minds Matter project.

So when doing this, I was at a youth club, key's House, c Clapham Junction, not far from here as well. At the time I was 19, I was working with my peers, essentially, and not that much younger than me doing these stuff. So yeah, Matt had came in from the British Explorer Society and offered this amazing opportunity.

I had a secret question for David Attenborough. One day I accidentally found flicking through the TV and I saw the, you know, planet Earth, the episode of, you know, Amazon and you know, leaf car ants and the dancing birds and the canopy. And I was just amazed by it that [00:12:00] somewhere in the world this is happening.

So I went ahead to go for it. And at the time, the person who was running the youth club helped me get sponsorship to go on the trip, so that was great. I, I then was able to basically go, it wasn't easy. We only had two days to prepare, so I had two days camping, my first time camping, like real camping.

Yeah. I was a bit overwhelmed in all honesty, and at that time felt this is not actually for me because when I looked around, I felt that people knew what they were doing. So I went there with my Adidas tracksuits on, bought some hiking boots from Sports Direct, and didn't know how to actually lace the top part at that point.

So I was just kind of free styling, you know, there was a variety of different young people, but I just felt that these people know what they're doing. You know, they're putting up their tents, some of them. Yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot. It was a lot at the time. So I did have a moment of doubt. [00:13:00] But the next step was actually to meet everyone at the airport and go, wow.

So I did go.

And what was the experience like in Peru?

So it was a long trip, first of all, just to get there and we didn't actually arrive the time we was meant to. We got there later. So when we did arrive, it was pitched dark, which was quite scary to start, especially stepping into a place that's full of noises, all types of noises that.

Someone like me definitely never heard before. Fortunately for me, I had someone called Morgan. She's from Wells, she's experienced. So thank good for Morgan because we put the tent up together, but I was just kind of following her instructions, what to do and. After that point, and as the expedition went on, things that I had been holding inside were being released just by being submerged in that environment, hearing the noises, seeing how things are working, the monkeys coming through the trees, the [00:14:00] light through the canopy, just being submerged in nature.

It was just truly healing.

Claire Hickinbotham: So you felt a lot of that trauma that you'd gathered over those years literally leaving your body?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Yeah. But. In honesty, at that time I didn't know. It's like most stuff. Sometimes we have experiences and we don't, we don't know that it's actually happening until afterwards when we can reflect on it.

It took about two years. So 2020, I was then invited to a few things in 2019 through the British Exploring Society and that's when I started to see the space and um, it actually, what really. It sparked my mind and everything really sunk in was I was invited to the Adventure Mind Conference hosted by Belinda Kirk, and at that conference is where I, I got guards to come and share my story basically.

And at that point. I guess I was just looking around the space and I [00:15:00] just saw mainly old white men. There wasn't any brown or or black faces around and young. There was no young people either, so I was just kind of, I was just kind of like, wow, this space needs more people like me advocating for more people like me to have the experience that I did essentially.

And then came up with the idea of city girl in nature. It was actually lockdown. Funny enough, it went into a lockdown just when I was about to start it. So I started doing video content online as a stepping stone, and at the time, no one was doing urban wildlife. Yeah, that's kind of like how it all started and.

It's the beauty of it as well, and it's a journey. It's never stopping and just wanna share that with more people, I guess.

Claire Hickinbotham: So over the five years you feel like you've reached a lot of people and been able to spread the joy and you know, just let people know what nature can do for you.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Of course. I've done so many different [00:16:00] things and I've even hosted a camp myself, which again, this year I'm running another camp, so just giving back is really.

One of the big things for me because I've experienced it myself and I see how healing and nurturing it is. Sounds incredible. Yeah, it's amazing what you're doing. Thank you. And yeah, I just, it's the small things that matter, and that's one of the key things I really, really hope all people start to notice in whatever capacity that nature is here to hold us always, even if we're not noticing it.

Claire Hickinbotham: We are not far from the Thames so we can see some of those big houses there. Yeah, so the Thames is literally just over there as well, but you're gonna take us somewhere else.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: Now, it wouldn't give City Girl in nature and what it stands for, the Justice, if we didn't visit the rooftop [00:17:00] garden that is within Battersea.

Also just less than 10 minutes from here, this park and it's. Surrounded by an estate, not an estate. People go there to grow food host sessions for young people, children, adults, anybody really.

Claire Hickinbotham: So as we walk to the rooftop garden. I wanna ask you about something else that you do in your life to help other people, and I'm not really sure how you fit in, but you're a trained doula as well. Yeah. So tell me what doula is, first of all.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: So a doula essentially is a non-medical midwife. So a doula doesn't offer medication or medical.

It is a person that offers support to mothers, especially babies. And also there's disparities. I'm not sure if you know the statistics, but it used to be five times more black women are five [00:18:00] times more likely to die in childbirth or after in this country. Yeah. So, um, it's actually three times more now. I hope that is accurate, but.

I know for sure there's an organization that will sit up basically five times more to help change those statistics. So even learning about that, it really kind of impacted me and I just felt that, you know, we need to not only just be connecting with nature, but holistically across the board of things and through becoming a mother.

I realized how natural that whole experience was as well. And I guess that's what really inspired the jeweler kind of pathway as well. I've had two home births myself, so the first one I kind of done it by myself with my best friend, 'cause that was a birth before arrival, which means. No medical person was there.

So I gave birth, um, with my [00:19:00] friend who doesn't have a child. Wow. And then my second one, I actually did have some midwives and I had the jeweler I originally was meant to have there. So yeah, I had two magical home births and I've helped. Other women with their postpartum. Mm-hmm. And some people like to say the fourth trimester.

So basically in pregnancy there's three trimesters. Yeah. For people that don't know and people like to describe the fourth trimester after giving birth and what goes on in that stage. So

Claire Hickinbotham: That's so true, isn't it? Because it's almost like, well, you've got your baby now, off you go. Yeah. And it's like, where's the handbook?

Where's the help?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: No handbook. And that's why I think the beauty of jewelers and what they're meant to do and is essentially support with that period of time, the pregnancy, the birth, and the. After birthed.

Claire Hickinbotham: So it's essentially bringing all of your experiences and your [00:20:00] skills together in one role, isn't it?

In a way, because it's so much about support, it's so much about being a mom and it's so much about nature as well, isn't it?

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: For sure. I knew that sign because not many people know the gardeners here. So is it for the people who live on this estate or, yeah, and, and anyone can visit.

Claire Hickinbotham: After crossing the busy stretch of road that connects Battersea Park to the estate, we climb a spiraling staircase between two huge tower blocks where an unassuming white door sits.

As soon as that door opens, we're treated to an array of colors, sights, and smells as a beautiful garden pairs before us through the door. Into what an amazing space this community garden is. Yeah, your smile has just got bigger and brighter. I love this place. This space is such a marriage of the [00:21:00] smells and the green and the brightly colored benches, and the bunting, and the gazebos all framed beautifully actually by the high rise.

Estate around you. We are in a almost a box. Yeah, it's like an oasis. It is an oasis and it's, I'm so surprised by how big it is. This was so,

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: I really felt I needed to show you guys this card. I'm so glad we persevered. It's just a beautiful space and please, and right on your doorstep, quite literally. And I think that's what I really want more people to understand in the city.

But you know, there's so many, especially nowadays, community gardens as well is a big place where you can learn and just be. Um, I, I'm not sure if you notice the boy over there just sitting down, you know, you don't, I have to just come and be growing fruit sometimes. It's just about being amongst these spaces and places [00:22:00] and Yeah, it's beautiful.

The words are just, yeah. Not there. It's just,

Claire Hickinbotham: I just, I feel. Different in this space, and I can see that you feel different in this space.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: I think the reason probably why my mood kind of got even more excited in a way is that this space feels more like home because I see the tower blocks, so I feel safe.

There's something about the fact that the power blocks are around me, but yeah, I've got nature around me too.

Claire Hickinbotham: And you must feel as well, this passion now through being a, I was gonna say new mom, but your eldest is two and a half now, so it probably feels like you're not a new mom anymore. We got two. You must feel desperately that you just wanna get kids out in these spaces.

Kwesia aka City Girl in Nature: A hundred percent. I know that if my two were here right now, they'd be running around and I would be able to allow the baby to be putting things in his mouth. 'cause most of the stuff is edible. They love these types of spaces and it's very much. I think [00:23:00] important to mention as well for mothers as well.

Also, motherhood isn't just mothers that have given birth. There's women that have lost children too, so I want to also mention them. Spaces like this also are great for women that have had those experiences too, to help them heal from that experience. All mothers. All mothers, all different types of mothers, even aunties that are mothering.

You know, there's all types of mothers and I think it's important that they are, you know, coming into these spaces and using this space to ground themself. You know, because just being here's just magical, you know? And we might not acknowledge it or feed it straight away, but if we spend at least 10 minutes here and just taking our surroundings without our phone.

It will make a big difference.

Claire Hickinbotham: Thanks for listening to this episode. We'll be back in a month's time, but if you can't wait that long, why not check out our History podcast [00:24:00] back when with James Grasby and Helen Antrobus or our wow Nature Series Wild Tales with Rosie Holdsworth and a Ajay Tegala. I'll see you soon.

Bye for now.

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