African Women Support Group launch
A GROUP seeking to improve the health and well-being of African women has been launched in Swindon.
The launch of the African Women Support Group was held on Saturday, August 30 and was supported by the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board (WCJB) and the Wiltshire Independent Advisory Group (IAG).
Dozens of people, including civic dignitaries and community leaders, gathered for the event, at Broadgreen Community Centre, where the occasion was celebrated with speeches, a fashion show and poetry reading, as well as traditional African food.
Chairperson Ellen Osa said black women raised in Africa are often denied basic human rights because of war and poverty.
She said they live in devastating and traumatic conditions, leaving them lacking education and hope, and in need of rehabilitation when they move to the UK.
The African Women Support Group will offer advice on education and vocation skills as well as childcare and guidance on organisations that can help with particular problems or concerns.
Organisers also say that while the group has a focus on helping Afro-Caribbean women, it is open to women from all walks of life.
The guest speaker at the launch was Swindon businesswoman Estuer Mebraktu, who described how she came to live in the UK as a child with her family in the 1970s as refugees from Eritrea.
She described the launch as “not before time” and said the group would be a chance to harness spirits and offer support.
Estuer shared her experiences of growing up in the UK and said that while her mother instilled in her a love of learning and education, she still encountered boundaries and restrictions when it came to studying at degree level and forging a successful career.
Being an African woman, she said, meant she was expected to concentrate on marriage and having children in life, rather than a career.
But determined to prove them wrong, Estuer had her thesis published after graduating and became a humanitarian aid worker before taking over a franchise of the sandwich store chain Subway in Swindon in 2004 with her business partner.
She described African women as very strong and said a strong African community was needed in Swindon.
Also at the event, Isatu Conteh, from the Sierra Leone Embassy, presented a cheque to the group.
The group’s launch was organised by Norma Thompson, a member of the Wiltshire IAG.
The IAG acts as a ‘critical friend’ to the criminal justice agencies in Wiltshire and its members represent the diverse communities of Wiltshire.
It was set up in 2007 by the Wiltshire Police Authority and the WCJB.
For more information on the group, call Ellen on 07729 376517.
