Scottish Arab Women Association’s Mind and Memories Project
Huda Alarishi, Chairperson, Scottish Arab Women Association
Since 2021, Corra’s Henry Duncan Grants has included ring-fenced funding committed to Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic-led organisations. This blog is part of a series sharing community stories from Henry Duncan Grants ring-fenced funded projects from 2021, when the funding theme was community-based mental health and wellbeing support. Thank you to Huda Alarishi, Chairperson of Scottish Arab Women Association, for writing this piece for us.
Scottish Arab Women Association (SAWA) aim to empower women and families from Arab and Ethnic Minority backgrounds.
Since we started up, befriending has been a key focus. So many individuals find it difficult to make new friends, having just moved to a new country and having no family here whatsoever. We have created a year–long program around activities that bring individuals closer and how they can learn to trust each other in a new community.
Mind and Memories Project – befriending, outdoor social activities & counselling
We developed the Mind and Memories Project to continue supporting Arab women with befriending and social activities, as well as introducing opportunities to access counselling sessions. Through drop-in counselling, our women have benefitted from having an outlet for pent-up trauma and anger, or anything else that was building up. Having another therapist available for children and offering the younger ones art therapy has also been very beneficial.
We have had outdoor sessions every two weeks, with health walks and forest bathing, to help participants destress and relax. Environmental games for the children were also held to connect with the new environment around them.
We’ve also held lots of educational drop-in sessions to explain ways of getting into higher education and applying to university – something we continue to see a real need for and that our women need support around.
“So many women’s lives have changed for the better”
‘D’ arrived in the UK with her abusive partner and her two young daughters as part of the family reunion scheme. Having just moved to a new place, she knew no one and was very isolated. SAWA reached out to her after one of our interpreter workers saw the situation she was in. She started to attend the weekly drop in sessions and then slowly started to make friends with other mothers and their children too. D also started to attend the weekly counselling sessions and was able to speak about her trauma.
Having received our support, D built up the courage and confidence to leave her partner with her two daughters, move away from his family and has begun a fresh start to life here in the UK. Attending our sessions, D was able to get help to apply for housing and move to a less isolated area of Glasgow, which helped both her and her daughters tremendously. Her daughters began school and nursery and have also been making lots of friends within the Arab community. She has expressed her gratitude sincerely and is grateful for the friends she made whom she now considers family.
Courage and Confidence
We have achieved lots of amazing things which would’ve been very difficult without the help of funding to keep SAWA going. So many women’s lives have changed for the better. They have been able to move forward, start a new life and have made lifelong friendships. Through events and social opportunities, the women have also settled really well in the community in Scotland.
Challenges
Accessibility: There were some practical challenges at the very start of the project – trying to establish accessible locations for the outdoor activities and what timings were best for everyone. Navigating transport can sometimes be difficult for the women we work with too. When there were adult only activities, mothers were cautious about bringing their children or having them under the supervision of another person. However, we’re learning as we go and thankfully these challenges are being managed and solutions found.
Burnout & Capacity: In many cases, SAWA is acting in an advocacy role for the women we work with around statutory services and a shock-absorber when serious issues crop up ie. delays around home office decisions and families having to suddenly relocate. Although we do our best and want to help, this does create issues around burnout for our organisers, who are all volunteers.
Find out more:
Scottish Arab Women’s Association | Facebook
SAWA (@sawa_scottisharab) • Instagram photos and videos
More from Henry Duncan Grants ring-fenced funded projects:
Scottish Ethnic Minority Deaf Charity – Healthy Deaf Minds Project