Macc recently managed the latest Spirit of Manchester Fund round of grants which focused on organisations that support people with the cost of living crisis. We are continuing to share stories in August to show the impact of these grants and the wide range of projects that they supported. Today, we have the story from Afrocats:
"The women we work with tell us that they experience isolation, low self esteem, long-term mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress and depression. This has been amplified by the cost of living crisis. We spoke to the women we work with and they told us:
- 45% felt alone
- 100% felt weak and tired of repetitive day-to-day depression and stress
- 60% said they stopped eating
“I don't want to be in the house because it is depressing to be alone at home.”
Participant feedback
The work of Afrocats aims to change this.
Our Natives of the World programme is for women from refugee backgrounds. Our aim is to give women access to activities that will improve their wellbeing and increase employability skills so they can feel included and valued members of society.
Eden got her refugee status in 2019 and is a participant on our Natives of the World programme. Joining us on our walking project, Eden saw the benefit of women joining together. This inspired her to volunteer for Afrocats running her own group.
“Through the Afrocats walking group, I made friends, I met people in the same situation as me. We could talk about women’s issues, things that were causing us worries that we saw in the news. I wanted to give something back to Afrocats so I asked Magdalen if I could volunteer.
When Magdalen asked me what I wanted to do I asked if we could make a group to bring people together to have time to ourselves together, time just for talking. From there, Table Talk was born.
I want to get a paid job and leading Table Talk helps give me the confidence to make that happen. It helps me develop day-by-day because Afrocats believes in me. It is amazing.”
To find out more about how Afrocats are supporting women through the cost-of-living crisis, visit https://www.afrocats.org.uk
