When a series of physical assaults upon Black Muslim women wearing Hijabs happened in Edmonton five years ago, many were fearful and sought to create a self-defence group. The Somali-Canadian Education and Rural Development Organization (SCERDO) stepped up and created a free women’s self-defence class.
This has morphed into the Haweenka Support Circle, for all women, from young girls to older adults, to create community and talk about issues that are important to their everyday lives. With funding support from Edmonton Community Foundation, it has become an essential safe space for so many on their integration journey in Canada.
The Somali community has created access to all sorts of supports like education, legal, employment and cultural programs through SCERDO. “What we try to do is always focus on our core values, which are collaboration, inclusivity, empowerment, accountability and innovation,” says Program Coordinator Awo Hassan. She facilitates youth employment programs, but, like many non-profit administrators, she wears many hats.
From there it has grown to a monthly meeting, “where women can talk about any type of issues that affect their everyday dayto-day lives, whether it comes to integration, whether it comes to their settlement journey, when it comes to getting legal advice, when it comes to motherhood or mental health.”
The group brings in guest speakers, and the meetings are free to participants who may not have the means to attend otherwise. This includes experts like divorce lawyers, mental health workers from the Black Therapist network and a similar support group, Unbreakable Sisterhood, to collaborate and create conversation. “We come together, sit together, and are able to deep dive into a topic.” Some topics are heavy but gatherings might
also be a breather, a break from busy life, like a paint night or a collaborative work session.
The Haweenka Circle has been a life-changing place for many women who have taken part. Hassan tells a story of a young woman and her mother who came to her after a session dealing with domestic violence. They discussed the rights and responsibilities of living in Canada. A young woman and her elderly mother, who had a rough upbringing in a refugee camp in Somalia, had come to Canada and finally found some relief after the Somali Civil War.
They could “finally experience some semblance of peace and safety… and what was really impactful with this family, her daughter had been in a long-term abusive relationship. She had an ex-fiance who would constantly harass her and do just a lot of different things. But it was actually having this conversation with an expert, somebody who was highly educated in domestic violence and spent a lot of years working in domestic violence, where the daughter and the mother actually understood at the time that they actually had a legal right to do something about this person who had been harassing them.”
Threats of being deported, losing permanent residency and worrying about their status in Canada were barriers for this family. It is why they didn’t immediately ask for help. After attending the Haweenka Circle with a professional, they could stand up for themselves. With the aid of law enforcement, they no longer had to live in a constant state of fear.
These moments of realization are the reason SCERDO keeps the Haweenka Circle going. Education and awareness can change lives. Some things that a person who has lived in Canada their whole life will think of as simple, might be a transformation piece of informational for someone unfamiliar with the country, laws and language.
There are few female-only places where women can gather, and when they are able to get together with a diverse set of experiences and ages, knowledge can be shared, and community is built.
