AMP Support Group for Women

Last year we decided to start a support group for single refugee and asylum seeker mothers who were struggling with illness and unemployment. With the number of women coming to our offices seeking help, we saw a great need for support for these women. The project was well received by the participants and this year we were able to expand on this project and develop it further with the support of two UCT Social Work Students who ran a 9 week programme as part of their community coursework. During the course of the 9 weeks the support group participants engaged in different topics which included introductions and expectations of the group and learning about one another and the different backgrounds the women were coming from. They went on to learn about stress and depression, domestic abuse, coping skills, health and well-being, and creative skills. We were also fortunate enough to have Sunyata Choice, from Project Colors, come and do a mosaic workshop with the women.

Below is a reflection from one of the members of the support group.

“The support group was so helpful and supportive to me. I was so stressed and helpless when I joined. It helped me a lot during the course of the nine weeks covered. I learned more from the group on STI’s and women and abuse. Little did I know that some of the symptoms of these STIs start at different stages and also develop to lead to life threatening situations. I also learned more about emotional abuse, which happened to me for the past 20 years I was married and I was not aware of this. The group was like family to me because everyone else was supportive when I reflected my worries and my expectations. For example when I explained to the group about my endless cough and how it started at a tender age and how it has affected my working life. The ideas I got from the group helped me so much. They suggested that I should try and find work that is not too heavy, try to keep myself as warm as possible even if the weather is fine. These ideas have helped me. What I enjoyed most was the mosaics skills that were taught to us. Being taught that we can make beautiful things out of broken tiles or broken glass and not needing to buy any material and be able to make your own table mats or whatever for you or for resale was the most exciting part. It was quite a helpful group because at the end of each session a food pack was given to me, which made my family look forward to having food on the table.”