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Women's Health West
Working with Bosnian women
OUR WORK WITH BOSNIAN WOMEN
Our work with Bosnian women arose from our association with Foundation House – providers of counselling to survivors of torture and trauma – which had founded a Bosnian women’s group in Brimbank. We asked these women what being healthy means to them, what specific health concerns they have, and what women’s health activities they might like us to facilitate for their community. Resettlement issues came first in the discussion: learning English, money, employment, being lonely and isolated, being worried about family or friends still in Bosnia. They requested basic health information, but the biggest health need was emotional wellbeing, in terms of their traumatic experiences in the war.
In 2003 we ran four health information sessions with the group, including one at Footscray Community Arts Centre involving circus skills and talks by refugee/migrant artists and writers about expressing emotion through art and writing.
Bosnian women's health day, November 2004.
Throughout 2004 we continued to work with the group, now calling themselves 'Ostanimo Zajedno' (Let's Stay Together) to put together a one-day Bosnian Women's Health Festival, the Festival Zdravlja Zene. The festival was also supported by the North Western Migrant Resource Centre, ISIS Primary Care and Merhamet Bosnian Welfare.
Held in late November at Victoria University, St Albans, the Festival was a wonderful success. More than 50 women actively took part in workshops on nutrition, body image and mental health, listened to speakers, discussed a wide range of issues and enjoyed delicious Bosnian food and entertainment.
Our work with Bosnian women is part of our ongoing Family Planning Project. This larger project is driven by a reference group made up of community nurses and other workers in the Western Region who nominate one focus community each year. Previous projects have focussed, for example, on the Filipino community.