Supporting women

Story & photos: Yiwen Zheng

The Women's Group at SADACCA (Sheffield And District African Caribbean Community Association) celebrated International Women's Day by focusing on the topic of women’s health.

Carmen Franklin, the organiser, said,

‘‘International Women’s Day was started to encourage women of all cultures and nationality to meet together, to listen to each other, to gain confidence and to share information and skills.’’

Chair of SADACCA Women’s Group Myrtle Walker also said,

‘‘Women are important and our group provides education and support to women. Our members share different ideas and sing together. Our group has a history of over 30 years.”

After a welcome speech and introduction by the Chair, NHS Mental Health Officer, Shima Nazir, gave the first speech on the importance of mental health for women. Then there was information from Catherine Davis about Breast Cancer awareness.

Guests then enjoyed lunch while children from a local dancing school Romano Jilo performed. All the food was provided by women from SADACCA Women’s Group who were volunteers.

After lunch, Christine Handley, who was from SYBRG (South Yorkshire Biodiversity Research Group) talked about the Harvesting Our Heritage project, which is about how different cultures use different plant species to make medicines. Maxwell Ayamba gave the last presentation on Ecological Therapy to inspire people to heal themselves with nature and exercise in the outdoors.

To finish the day women enjoyed therapeutic massage, bringing to an end a successful and meaningful celebration of International Women’s Day.