A RWN woman is…

…a bridge, an advocate, and a leader for refugee and immigrant women.

Meet the Health Promoters of RWN – In this set of pictures you meet RWN’s Health Promoters and get a glimpse of their learning and sharing process.

Journaling is a new concept to the women from Somalia, Bhutan, Hong Kong,  >and Iraq. The goal of the journaling project is to incorporate art with health education. Women are encouraged to use the journal as a method for self expression and self exploration.

Three local artists Sally Wyle, Robey Tapp and Ruth donated their time, supplies and love in order to do a group art project. Each session, they journaled around a specific health topic and worked on a group project “In our Hands” which became the center piece of the conference in 2008.

On this day, the women used the letters from their names in a journaling exercise  for  self-exploration and expression. Bhola Timsina, a refugee from Bhutan used the letters in her name to say B – Beauty, H – Holy, O – Orange, L – Love, A – Air.

Indira Nepal, also a refugee from Bhutan used the letters in her name to read I– Indira, N- New, D- Dog, I – Ice, R – Romantic, A- Apple.

Marian Mohamed is a 20 year old woman from Somalia who grew up mostly in Kenya. This picture is from an exercise about creating a special plant and writing about it as a tool for self understanding.

In her role as Health Promoter, Marian stood up in front of a group of people for the very first time and gave a talk.

Hinde Muya is a Somali Bantu who came to the US about 10 years ago. Hinde has been a health promoter since October 2008. She attends Saturday school at International Community School and provides classes on nutrition, which she learned from the Health Promoters Program. Following a session on reproductive health at the Feminist Women’s Health Center, she wrote “first time I did not know. My doctor was taking some of these kinds of examination. But I did not know what he meant. But now I know because some of these I learned them in my health promotion class.”

Journal reads “Solidarity. To establish relations and help each other. If I establish solidarity with other community  I would help them solving problems related to education, unemployment, family dispute and other impower problem.”

The text above explores the meaning of the words solidarity and community and how each person works to build them in her life.

Once the women have journaled, they share the information with the group. This allows for vibrant conversation around stereotypes and myths as well as illuminating differences and similarities in cultures as well as cultural practices that are beneficial or harmful to health. This methodology of learning through shared experiences is the undercurrent of RWN projects and programs.  The women were fascinated by cultural differences rather than being judgemental of the differences.

Health Promoters Program Coordinator, McKenzie says journaling allows the women to use materials like magazines, cloth, art supplies, and newspaper to express themselves. It also allows them to express their knowledge and have them be validated by experiences shared by other women from very different parts of the world. McKenzie comments that the women have gotten to know each other very quickly and have bonded with each other as a result of the journaling and sharing of knowledge. The art projects break down barriers, enhances communication and emphaisizes commonalities, shared experiences and cultural differences.