Activism from the margin: “We have enough condemnation! “

The training was intended for members of the Association of Roma Women and their supporters and users, and the goal was to present a new model of creating security, mapping threats with which marginalized groups of women are daily faced with, and mapping the strategy for sustainabiity and survival. The security risk factors for activists and marginaized groups of women can be physically, emotionaly, and spiritually harming and they overpass each aspect of life ( the body, mind, spirit, fmily, community, organization, etc).

 Women members of minority and marginalized groups are constantly faced with different kinds of pressures. On the problems with which they face and about what they consider safety we have collected the further claims:

 “The condemnation of women members of marginalized groups is always present. When I made a decision for myself, that I wanted to work, everyone was condemning me, as if to work and travel was the worst thing that could happen to a woman. Believe me, I’m happiest I have not looked around and now I am ruling my life. No better and purer feelings. ”

„Security is freedom, the freedom to say what I think and what I want, to freely move. Women here rarely have that kind of freedom. And to have a woman released, especially a Roma woman and other especially discriminated women, they  need to be economically independent. All the whie when a woman doesn’t have her own earned money, we can ony hope and dream of freedom, a thereby security“.

 On the training we worked on the analysis of the position in which members find themselves, we looked at the complete picture of the risks with which we are faced and we worked on the setup of strategy of answering and taking risks. Due to the complexity of the position in which marginalized groups of women find themselves, the members have learned to daily use different strategies so that they could deal with challenges.

 On the mechanisms and strategies that the participants engage in their everyday lives we point out: 

„When I am stressed, I escape to nature, far away from people. Sometime I put on soothing music and this presents to me a physical rest“.

„I have learned that in my hectic life, when I am going through a daily life without analysing what is going on around me and the threats that surround me, that after a while to just feel when I cant move further Then it happens that I fall ill“.

The trainings that we organise are realized under the project „Womens Rights- the Agenda for Positive Changes“, which is finansed by the European Union and realized by the Foundation CURE (CURE) and the Foundation for Empowering Women (FWE). The impementation of this project, is aimed at promotion and respect of women’s rights and therefore we aim to eradicate discrimation of women, with the special focus on women and girls members of marginalized and minority groups in 10 municipalities, and the municipality of Bijeljina is one of them.

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