The Women’s Awareness Association recently carried out their extremely successful Community Food Parcels project with the Strengthening Faith Institutions micro-grant. In this wonderful project, the organisation delivered food parcels – that included dates and traditional sweets – to their local community, focusing specifically on households who have difficulty speaking or understanding English. Crucially, these food parcels also contained leaflets with necessary contact support details in Arabic to offer support to vulnerable members of this community during this unprecedented time.

With their project, the Women’s Awareness Association provided necessary support for over 100 households in the local community. Not only did this project make accessible important information to those receiving the parcels, but it also ensured that members of this community were supported and felt less isolated.

Testimonials translated from Arabic to English

‘The service was great; the gift parcels were an unexpected surprise. I felt I was reunited and connected with the community again. The provided helpline number in our native language was beneficial for me and my family as it was something we critically needed. For a period of time I had no one whom I could call for inquiries and who could supply me with basic essential needs.’ – Maryam Ahmed

‘I can’t believe no one has thought of doing this before. This is exactly what I needed for someone who is very weak in the English language. I found it hard to understand what the government guidelines were when they were announced. From calling the number given in the leaflet I was able to speak to someone in my native language, this made me feel reassured and more confident.’ – Aaliya Shamiri

‘Thank you so much for sending the gift parcel, it was a nice gesture to receive, especially in these difficult times. I found the contact details given in the parcels particularly useful, especially the contact number for WAA, whom I was able to frequently call in my native language for help and advice for Covid-19.’ – Samir Al-Khalid