Jumanah Younis

It was 27°C in London on Friday, 20 June, and I was looking forward to cooling off with a swim at the Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond. The first time I visited the pond I felt as if I’d walked into the Garden of Eden. A breeze rippled through the foliage that obscured the upper meadow from outside eyes. Lily pads floated on the water. Women, alone with a book or in groups, were dotted around, lounging in the sun or shade. Amplified sound is forbidden, so the murmurs of conversation and the birds were all you could hear. A space without men allows for a different type of relaxation, a kind of whole body letting go.

The spark that triggered the protests in Santiago de Chile was an increase in the price of the metro. The rise from 800 to 830 pesos at peak times came after a government announcement of a 9.2 per cent hike in water and electricity costs. With rising rents, a crumbling public health system and stagnating wages – the minimum wage is 301,000 pesos a month – living conditions for many Chileans are becoming untenable.