Phumulani Minnesota African Women Against Violence CI Report – Final

What has been most instrumenta to your progress?

The cultural specificity of the Healing Circles were created by and for cultural communities with an emphasis on the voices and experiences of survivors of interpersonal violence. Acknowledging the strength and resilience, expertise and vitality of this culturally grounded work benefited all survivors who participated in the healing circles. In centering the cultural needs of the survivors, we also uplifted the voices and experiences of those who because oppression, have been unheard or unheeded for too long. In our communities, we have been unserved, underserved and inadequately served because of the endemic nature of racism, colonialism, white supremacy and xenophobia in the United States, as well as barriers that result from global cultural contexts, culturally specific services have historically been grounded in and grown from communities marginalized along racial, ethnic immigrant, refugee or linguistic lines.
Conducting these healing circles with the cultural context in mind, helped the program to be successful because the participants felt a sense of belonging and safe.
This was important because it created a cohesive and a more trusting space for survivors.

Understanding that each individual’s definition of who they are culturally, is complex, even with our participants from the same African country or tribe, we acknowledged the multiple layers and complexities. One of the components of the Healing Circles that made it successful was realizing that we could not assume other’s culture even if we think we may know it. We used the term ‘cultural community’, to mean :a group of people united by a shared experience of oppression and cultural resilience, on a basis such as identities as race, ethnicity, language immigration, or refugee status, gender identity/expression, other marginalized identity. We let each ‘cultural community define what the aspect of culture meant for them, and we listened to the cultural needs of each individual cohort. We also used the data we received about the cultural needs of each community to engage, the Elders from those communities who then led the Healing Circles.

Having an open and candid speech as our guiding principle during the ‘Attaya Sessions ‘was especially crucial in setting the pace and tone of the Healing Tea Ceremonies. This ground rule gives the women autonomy to express their voices on any topics discussed in the circle. For survivors who have historically been marginalized and unheard, this practice, gave the women the confidence to express themselves and really share their stories with fellow survivors.
Working collaboratively with the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Violence ( MNCASA), and Violence Free Minnesota ( VFMN), was especially helpful as well as this expanded our capacity we managed to reach out to as many member programs serving African Immigrant women, including the women in Greater Minnesota from the African Immigrant community. It also gave us an opportunity to offer culturally specific training resources to encouraged culturally specific provision services.

Key lessons learned

Gathering Heals
One of the main take-aways from bringing African Immigrant women together, helped us realize the Diseases that have been resulting from Isolation. When we were in Africa, there were organic ways of meeting and gathering that were healing. After relocating to the United States, many African Immigrant women are living isolation. The Healing Tea Circles, helped us realize the huge need for connectivity. In our indigenous culture, the Circle is synonymous with wholeness. All things work together in an interdependent fashion, forming an interconnected web of integrated wholeness. Though each part is a recognizable unit, it only has meaning when in relationship to the whole. Wholeness is the perception of the undivided entirety of things.
One of our big take always was the realization of parallels around African immigrant women’s issues, despite socio-economic background are the same, and we learned of the lack of access to resources that are culturally specific to survivors. We also realized the high rates of trauma that has been unaddressed intergenerational in our community.

Invisible Pandemic; Throughout the CORONA VIRUS ( COVID-19),Pandemic, we were unable to meet in person for the ceremonies, and we learned of the high levels of isolation African Immigrant women face once they immigrate to the United States. We learned that there is a huge need for cultural communities to gather, in some ways as the women suggested, it would be ideal to recreate, our Ancestors’ ways of doing things.
“Free speech” is the only rule approach to the Healing circles reminded us of the importance of creating brave/spaces, for survivors of color to heal.

When the Corona Virus Pandemic hit the world, we were unable to meet in person and unfortunately we were unable to meet in person. Most of the participants were unable to continue participating due to lack of access to technology. This was one of our failures in successfully completing those healing circles.
We learned that there is a huge need to gather in our community as isolation among survivors contributes to higher levels of domestic abuse, including high rates of other issues like suicide and mental health problems.

Reflections on the community innovation process

Increase Collective Understanding of the issue:
Not all African immigrant, women want to leave the relationship. They want the violence
to stop. There are times when it may be safer for a woman and her children to stay. Quite simply, a woman who has been battered might be told
she will be killed, or her children will be killed, if she leaves or refuses to
return. Past violence has taught her that his threats often translate into
action. Leaving also might harm her children if he gets custody or visitation. If she is still in the relationship, she can monitor his interactions
with the children. Indeed, the decision to leave an abusive relationship
is not as straightforward as it might seem. The table on page 8 outlines
some of the crucial factors a victim must consider, especially if she has
children.,We understood very well, how to increase the understanding of African immigrant women and domestic violence.

Other key elements of Community Innovation

Community Innovation

Implementing a culturally specific innovation processes is crucial. It was instrumental to gain the innovative ways of working with Community Innovation processes. We learned that African immigrant women
In addition to providing opportunities for individuals to gain valuable work experience, we sought to foster community development we differed from many earlier programs in the degree of control over project design and implementation that was given to local communities. The Phumulani strategy was unique in that the fundamental driving force underlying the project was the notion that local communities — defined as small areas within the CBRM — should be able to define their own needs and then develop projects to meet those needs.

The role played by a community had two main aspects: the creation of a democratic structure — the community board — to make decisions regarding the use of CEIP resources, and the solicitation and approval of specific projects from sponsors within the community to employ our participants. Although the core of the offer to communities was the free labor supply of our workers for their local projects, in order for community

Progress toward an innovation

In the last two years, we managed to make some amazing progress, towards breaking the silence and stigma around Gender -Based Violence in the African immigrant community. In addition to the George Floyd measure in the work we do, we have to believe that we are much closer to the innovation grant over the many women.In our community, domestic violence is a topic that is taboo and being able to gather survivors to talk about this topic is a breakthrough, we managed to use the feedback from the community members and participants to create a culturally specific innovative program that heals survivors of gender-based violence through a culturally relevant way.
Based on the feedback our program is now implementing a community centered and wealth building and creation approach ( business development, career training, home ownership, credit repair, financial literacy) for survivors instead of social services approach that seem to limit women and are not sustainable long term.
We are closer now because we have built trust and a strong network of survivors we will now work with moving forward.

What it will take to reach an innovation?

The ability to continue hosing tea healing circles in person will be crucial because there is a higher need that we anticipated, also we need support building our organizational capacity so we can accommodate the number of survivors reaching out.

What’s next?

After this project ends we definitely find the need to continue healing circles especially post George Floyd and the increase in Gun Violence in Minneapolis. We will continue to seek out extended partnerships with Foundations like Bush, HRK Foundation among others. We will plan on facilitating healing circles again in the near future.

If you could do it all over again…

Being flexible and openness to learning because nothing is really guaranteed. The Pandemic taught us that things as planned can and could change, so we managed to use a plan B which was hosting the circles virtually. Looking back and reflecting at the experience, I would tell myself to be open and remove assumptions, because even as an African Immigrant woman and community leader, I thought I had an idea of the complexities that exist within the African Immigrant community itself but learned a lot more throughout this project. I would tell myself to be open and continue to be open especially to be unattached to nothing so I can be best able to learn anew each time.
It would have been important for me to know especially hiring facilitators, we would have had double the amount of facilitators as we had way more women that we thought, also the different tribes and languages represented.

One last thought

• Lack of culturally specific services is one of the largest barriers for African born women, the 26 Shelters in Minnesota are not culturally specific, often women have a difficult time finding staff that speaks their language and or understand their culture hence many women end up leaving shelter and going back to the abuser’s home, where it is dangerous for the victim but often, she will choose the comfort of her children over hers.
• A culturally specific non-profit organization like ours does not have capacity due to the unequal distribution of resources, historically marginalized organizations are often underfunded, and main stream programs are well funded, I would love the Taskforce to advocate for Culturally Specific Gender Based Violence Prevention resources to be allocated to programs like ours, hiring someone from the African Immigrant community to represent the whole community is not culturally specific work, instead, funding a program like ours and empowering the community members to become advocates and do work within the community is culturally specific.
•Women expressed the need for Capital to start businesses as well as opportunities for them to own homes