Soufia Bham is a writer, artist and activist working at the intersection of politics and public health (HIV, Drugs, SRHR). She currently resides in Mauritius and maintains an artistic practice that includes poetry and multi-media pieces exploring other forms of reality and the tension of modern life on inner worlds.

I am a woman, an artist, a activist and a policy advocate working at the intersection of politics and public health. In my artistic practice, I often examine my relationship to drugs - the tangible and intangible experiences that shape how, why and when I use drugs. Poetry has been an important medium for me to address aspects of drug use that remain taboo in Mauritius; pleasure, the use of drugs by women, and the vulnerability of it all. Through this creative workshop, I would like to guide delegates into generating poetry that speaks to their experiences using "found" words from other texts that I will provide. This method removes barriers such as pressure, self-censorship and allows participants to put some distance between themselves and the experiences and feelings they want to express without taking away from the possibilities of poetry as a medium of expression.
Through this creative session, delegates will be able to explore their experiences of using drugs and how it has shaped their perception, practice and relationship to harm reduction.