24 May 2024. For our May Food with Friends we invited hormone health training provider Sophie Cartledge, from Hormones on the Blink, to deliver an information session on Menopause for women from the Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
Hormones on the Blink is an education and advocacy provider, specialised in addressing the often overlooked and misunderstood aspects of menopause and hormone health both in the workplace and local communities.
Women from BAME and BAMER communities often dismiss concerns about their gynaecological health due to lack of information. After discussing how women from different ethnicities go through this process at different stages of their life, the speaker encouraged women to share their unique personal experiences.
There were moments of laughter and tears of joy as some participants shared their feelings and the support received from partners and their children. By contrast, it was distressing to hear others share their experience of broken relationships or marriage due to menopause.
Migrant women from different ethnic backgrounds need informal opportunities like Food with Friends to show their solidarity, despite cultural differences.
It was inspiring to see ethnic women feeling empowered and safe to share their personal stories with women from other cultures.
Sophie beautifully facilitated these cultural experiences and sharing of best practice, giving our guests a platform to voice their thoughts.
To ensure that everyone was included and could understand and communicate their concerns, we invited our brilliant interpreter, Fatima Rodrigues, along.
She calmly mediated the information, comments, views and queries from Spanish into English, enabling cultural exchange.
We are very grateful to Sophie Cartledge from Hormones on the Blink for the informative and interactive session, and for supporting this women only event.
We were happy to see some of our friends from Portsmouth Women Alliance who came to join us in welcoming a group of new migrant women.
With this event we conclude the second run of our Food with Friends project which we have been running since July 2023.
Our heartfelt thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund for the opportunity to support vulnerable migrant groups facing increased challenges posed by the cost-of-living crisis, through this community initiative.
