The benefits of volunteering in a small charity – Showcase no.4: feeling part of a strong community with the Henna Asian Women Association

Who are the Henna Asia Women Association?

Henna Asian Women’s Group is a community based organisation that was set up over 30 years ago by Asian women migrating from India, Pakistan and East Africa. We offer various services in different languages (Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Urdu) to socially isolated Asian women. Our mission is to provide an additional support to individuals aside from the services provided by health professionals or social workers.

We provide, among others, the Befriending service addressed to the vulnerable elderly. On a day to day basis Henna staff meet and greet members, makes them aware of new services and projects settled in their neighbourhood and works on the confidence level of members.

Why is the work of your volunteers important?

Thanks to their involvement, our volunteers have built a strong network which is making a huge difference to vulnerable ladies with the sharing of customs, values and attributes as a way to create community links.

Thanks to our volunteers we have also been able to assess members’ needs, evaluate service provision and monitor the progress of each project very closely.

The beneficiaries who have accessed the Befriending service state that it has helped them to reconnect with their community links and access all different services from other organisations. One of our Volunteer remembers said:

“Mrs V. has gained confidence which has made her take a major step to leave for America to visit her daughter. This is a great outcome for the Befriending service as it helped Mrs V. in a major way, due to issues with paranoia which was taking over her life and making her feel afraid of the life outside her front door.”

What benefit have your volunteers gained from supporting your charity?

Our volunteers are delighted to have found a place which connects them with their roots by meeting people who belong to the same culture. They have developed friendships with one another and respect for each other’s differences. Such interactions help them with their own self development.

“I have gained great relationships with two ladies I would never have interacted with before. One of them gave me the opportunity to use my Hindi and gain valuable experience acting as an interpreter for her.”

“I am a Bengali woman that has an extremely autistic child who needed to be placed in a specific care home. This did have an effect on me and I really needed to do something with my time. When I first came to volunteer at the Group I was really shy and hesitated to talk in English. However everyone made me feel comfortable so I began to speak in English. Now I can talk more openly.”

For further information on the Henna Asian Women Group and how you can get involved 

A range of alternative volunteering opportunities are also available on the Small Charity Week website.