Our Voices is the youth group of Yasmina group, a Muslim community group based in Hamilton made up of young Muslim women of all ages. As mentioned in our article about Yasmina group, which focused on the mums initiative, following the initial prevention workshop, the Yasmina adults wanted to work on the prevention of child abuse, and the Yasmina girls wanted to work on healthy relationships, consent, and mental health from an Islamic perspective.
The first idea that the group developed was creating an instagram page called “Our Voices” where they shared content about the topics of their project. Recognising a gap in Islamic-focused resources on sexual violence prevention, the group also created a workshop on healthy relationships, consent, and mental health from an Islamic perspective.They leaned on the Yasmina Mums’ Group for content review and religious fact-checking. They also contacted sexual violence, mental health, and ethnic organisations to offer the attendants of the workshop “Goodie bags” with further resources and information about support services. This collaboration brought intergenerational strength and credibility to their initiative.
After several months of work and preparations for the workshop, the group delivered two workshops and received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with attendees requesting more sessions and expressing interest in joining the group. Due to that success, Shama decided to support the group in a second phase of the prevention program in 2024. The support this time consisted of disseminating the workshop in the wider community. In this opportunity the group decided to organise a new workshop for Arab girls in Hamilton. This workshop had an arts based approach meaning that there was a space for girls to enjoy a painting activity at the same time as they learnt the content of the workshop.
Today, the “Our Voices” initiative continues to grow, offering a powerful example of what’s possible when youth are trusted, resourced, and supported to lead change in their own communities.
You can support and follow the Yasmina Youth Group’s Instagram page and podcast we recorded with them by clicking on the following links:
