2,088 Helpline calls
From 2021-2022, our highest number of callers were women experiencing depression, social isolation, and abuse.
From 2020-2022, we have:
Ran 3 community pop-up surgeries - 1 in Govanhill and 2 in Pollokshields
Trained over 20 women as Helpline and Befriending volunteers
Supported over 85 women throughout Scotland with our 1-to-1 casework service
Provided over 186 Ramadan Care Packages to Muslim and BME women all over Scotland
Given toys to 315 children who were experiencing difficulties through our Eid Toy Drive
Schools Project
Over the years at Amina, our work in schools has evolved. We used to be funded only to support conversations and connections to be made about how people who are Muslims are perceived in Scotland. The goal has now evolved to supporting healthy relationships more broadly with individuals themselves and with each other.
Currently, our work is developing into longer-term work with one school at a time, over a period of 6-8 weeks. We can still provide the option to build connections and answer questions as Muslim women, but the core of our work is now supporting young people to have conversations about who they are with themselves and their peers/ teachers. Weeks 1 and 2 focus on introductions, respect and boundaries. Weeks 3-6 are focused on topics that affect everyone such as healthy relationships, heritage, body image and choosing our role models.
If you would like to enquire about Amina coming to speak to students at your school, please email schools@mwrc.org.uk or fill in our Schools Project form here.
Fundraising Gala 2022
Our Passion, Your Compassion - the sell-out Amina fundraising event took place on Monday, the 7th of November 2022 at the Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel. There was an amazing turnout for the evening with over 250 friends and supporters joining Amina on the night, with generous support given through cash donations and auction prizes. We had Councillor Roza Salih speaking at the event alongside Sheikh Hasan Rabbani as well as many other supporters from Scotland. We raised over £18,500! These funds will be used in many of our services at Amina.
Reclaim the Name
Here are 5 things you should know about the #ReclaimTheName campaign:
- ReclaimTheName is about challenging stereotypes and changing perceptions
The aim of the campaign is to educate each other on the diversity in Muslim cultures and ways of life.
- The campaign is about women reclaiming how they are defined by the world
All women are unique. The campaign is working to empower all women to have their own voice and make it heard.
- It is a pro-campaign
This campaign is not about what it is like to be Muslim or experience Islamophobia. It is about Muslim women. We hope to provide a platform where Muslim women can express their stories and illustrate their journeys to provide nuance and complexity to narratives that are associated with them.
- Creativity is protest
We not only want to redefine disempowering messages about Muslim women, we want to support creative ways of getting those messages across.
- Community participation is key to success
Nominate stand out women we may be missing out on and use the hashtag #ReclaimTheName to participate in our campaign.
The Myth of Perfection is a running series since 2022. We are encouraging people to share their journeys with us in a 500-800-word blog post or short video of up to 2 minutes in length. The aim is to discuss a significant part of the process behind reaching a goal or an ideal and/or the beauty of what they eventually achieve. Any racially minoritised or Muslim woman can contribute. They can do so anonymously. They can do so in any language too.
Check out our blogs in our Blogs and Articles page.
We also published blog pieces revolving around disability and the like. Check out this article here.
Blog Pieces
Peri Mental Health Focus Groups 2021
Amina was approached by Public Health Scotland for help with research around the experiences of Muslim women and women from racialised groups when it came to maternal mental health, from pregnancy to the first year after birth. This is with the recognition that current policies and research do not reflect the experiences of a wide range of women which impacts support and care given at this incredibly significant time in life.
It has been a priority for Amina to consider how we give back to women who entrust their experiences to us. Our Dundee colleagues had already partnered with Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) and we were able to use this to our participant’s advantage by offering them all with £40 worth of baby-safe art materials with which they could enjoy a free session facilitated by art therapist Vicky Armstrong as part of the focus group experience. Our Public Health Scotland partners held this to be of immense value and were able to add to our funds to make sure that this could be supported.
We were able to successful conduct several focus groups in the span of a few months.
Eid Toy Drive 2021
Helpline organised an Eid Toy Drive in 2021 in partnership with organisations such as Interfaith Glasgow, Kids Out, Anyiso, Kurdish Women's Community Group, Daisy Project, SCOREscotland, One Parent Families Scotland, and many more. The aim was to help Muslim children of families in difficult circumstances that were unable to celebrate Eid such as asylum seekers, refugees, or low-income family children. Over the month of Ramadan, we were able to raise over £2,000 and supported 1,331 children celebrate Eid.
I Speak For Myself Campaign
I Speak for Myself (ISFM) is a long running campaign at Amina. It started with gathering statements and pictures from women all over Scotland to encourage others to see and describe themselves as human beings with lots of different parts.
This summer program started for those who wanted to become changemakers in their own lives - to put their time and energy towards their own goals of building community, developing skills, improving their understanding of themselves, and using all of that to give back.