A Special Friendship Borne out of the Pandemic
As part of our practice research methods, Co-POWeR has been co-creating documentary film projects with participants from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities in diverse locations across cities in the UK. One of the films involves two healthcare workers who live in Cardiff. They met during the Covid-19 pandemic and became close friends. Filming them cooking together at home highlighted the importance of friendship connections to support resilience and wellbeing.
The two friends first met at a money transfer shop where they started chatting, and they would greet each other casually whenever they passed in the street. They then found themselves in the same class at a college in Cardiff, where they joked, “Why are you following me everywhere?” The two women gradually developed a strong friendship bond, not least because they are both from the same country outside Europe, which was clear throughout the filming. One of the women explained, “I am alone here. We speak French whenever we are together. We meet regularly, and we call each other every day. When I have a problem I call her.”
When I have a problem I call her.
They explained how not being able to go back home to visit their friends and family because of lockdown has made their friendship bond all the more important; especially as one of the women has suffered psychologically due to losing her brother in her home country during the pandemic. Their friendship has helped her to cope with the trauma of losing a loved one and not being able to attend the funeral or mourn with her family. This supports the conclusion by Ye et al (2021) that high quality friendships during the Covid-19 pandemic provided effective emotional and social support, leading to a more positive outlook on life and promoting resilience.
The women described the psychological difficulties they faced during lockdown, and how easy it was to put on weight while being stuck at home, which led to one of the women taking up running and the other walking wherever she goes instead of taking the bus. Related to this is another issue of importance to the two friends, which is healthy eating. Despite working full time, they sometimes struggle to afford fresh fruit and vegetables, and so the women make good use of a local food bank, which provides them with a variety of nutritious foodstuff. The filming, chatting and laughter continued as the aroma of oxtail stew and roasted plantain filled the air, and the importance of human connection and friendship to wellbeing and resilience was clearly apparent.
This is our new life in the UK.
Both women are taking positive steps to improve their lives. As a qualified and experienced nurse, one of them has moved from doing care work in the community to working as a care assistant in a rehabilitation unit in a hospital setting. Both women are pursuing ways of "getting their qualifications accredited and recognised in the UK system” as their original qualifications are in French. The two friends have both been learning English and gaining extra qualifications since they arrived, and one stated, “This is our new life in the UK.”
Blog post by Dr Wendy Booth and Emyr Jenkins
Reference: Ye, B. Hu, J. Xiao, G. Zhang, Y. Liu, M. Wang, X. & Xia, F. (2021). Access to epidemic information and life satisfaction under the period of COVID-19: The mediating role of perceived stress and the moderating role of friendship quality. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1-19.
Photo credits: Junior REIS - Unsplash and PICHA - Pexels