Who We Are
WE DO THIS IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS:
Confidence building workshops
Our confidence-building workshop is aimed at developing the thoughts, feelings and behaviour of our participants. No matter the experience you may have faced, we help create a greater sense of self-awareness and confidence. The workshop examines the confidence levels in the daily lives of our participants, provides tips and techniques to overcome nerves and self-doubt, and creates ways to boost the thoughts and feelings of participants.
Domestic abuse
Domestic violence is traditionally associated with cases of physical violence occurring within intimate relationships and in a domestic setting. It occurs in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships: married, de facto and separated adolescents and adults. We create a safe space for women to speak out and get help from their abusers by listening to them, making phone calls on their behalf to signpost them to where they can get help.
Heritage Project
We believe that our cultural heritage can provide a sense of unity and belonging within us and allows us to better understand previous generations and history. It can be easy to feel lost and alone among so many other cultures and backgrounds, and we try to create a sense of communal support. We do this through different activities that allow people to connect to their social and cultural values. Activities such as traditional day, beads making, dance classes, gele wrapping, and so on makes our people identify with tradition.
Skill Acquisition
At Wonderfully Made Woman, we believe that a self-acquired woman is a self-employed woman. Acquiring a skill is crucial to changing the economic power of our women. Learning a skill can do a lot of great work in the life of our women and girls: self-employment, diverse job opportunities, crime reduction, and employment generation. We offer skill training in beads making, make-up classes, cooking, hair making, and digital literacy.
BRINGING BACK YOUR CONFIDENCE
WE ARE ALSO AN AWARENESS-RAISING ORGANISATION.
We are also an awareness-raising organisation. After researching the issues affecting the women in our community, we realised that there are five common issues that women in our community are dealing with, so we are involved in creating campaigns about these issues and raising awareness. These issues are:
Domestic abuse and violence
We raise awareness on the effects of DV (Domestic Violence) on women and their children. It is widely accepted that domestic violence is more commonly perpetrated by males, and women are more likely to suffer physical harm at the hands of their partner. However, the victims sometimes believe that the incident is too minor to report, they feel shame or embarrassment, have a desire to deal with the issue by themselves, fear the perpetrator or the consequences of reporting the incident, struggle with cultural barriers, and the concern about having to relive the event by re-telling the story to multiple parties. We try to get their voices heard, so we create DV campaigns to spread the word.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Female Genital Mutilation comprises all procedures involving the removal of the external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Most often, FGM is practised on girls and young women under 18. FGM is not prescribed by any religion and has no health benefits. On the contrary, the practice can cause life-lasting physical and psychological trauma. So far, 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, and an additional estimate of 68 million girls face being cut by 2020. We are involved in creating awareness of FGM and exposing the consequences of FGM on the girl child, for the pain inflicted by FGM does not stop with the initial procedure, but it often continues as ongoing torture throughout a woman’s life.
Modern Day Slavery
According to the Global Slavery Index ib 2018, it is estimated that roughly 40.3 million individuals are currently caught in modern slavery, with 71% of those being female, and 1 in 4 being children. The different types of modern-day slavery faced by our women are forced migrant labour: people may be enticed to migrate with the promise of work, only to have their documents seized, and they are forced to work under duress; sex slavery; forced marriage and child marriage, and forced labour. We give support to victims and provide solutions.
Cancer Awareness
Cancer cases are increasing rapidly. Therefore, it is important to step up cancer literacy and knowledge amongst the population. We hope that this will lead to early detection: crucial in the management and treatment of cancer and prevention by making necessary lifestyle changes. We create cancer awareness campaigns to remove the stigma and fear attached, help people recognise the early signs and symptoms of cancer in order for them to seek treatment early, educate people about the key risk factors, since more than 30% of cancer cases could be prevented by modifying lifestyle, or avoiding the risk factors, and inform people about the importance of regular screening and check-ups.
Hate crime
We raise awareness of hate crime to remember those we have lost, and support those who need our ongoing support. Some women have faced hate crimes because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. We partner with other organisations to respond to hate crime and support and protect victims.