The All African Women's Group

Includes women from Algeria, Bangladesh, Burundi, The Comoros, Ivory Coast, Congo (DRC and Brazzaville), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe.  In Africa we organised for survival and for change for ourselves, our families and communities.

We were imprisoned, beaten, raped, starved, made to do forced labour or military service . . . under dictatorships supported and armed by Western governments and/or corporations.  Some of us saw our loved ones killed.  We came to the UK where we thought our torture would be finished but it has continued.  The problem many of us face now is that our asylum claims are denied and we have nowhere to sleep, no money, no food.  Some of us have been locked up in detention centres, even when pregnant or with babies; many have suffered racist attacks.

Many of us are mothers and rape survivors; some are older, younger and/or lesbian women . . . Most of us have very poor health as a result of the torture we suffered, and some have disabilities.  We are fighting for our right to stay and our right to live.  We got together at Crossroads Women's Centre because we couldn't get help elsewhere^*.  We are a self-help group and we support each other: going to court, finding doctors, speaking out about our experiences and fundraising.  We are pressing for recognition of our caring work, for housing, healthcare, and the same protection and resources that everyone in every country needs. 

 

We urge you to support us by donating to:

Legal Action for Women's Emergency Fund

which makes lunch available daily to those who have little or no income, and covers limited survival needs, including fares to lawyers’ and health appointments, and bus fares to London for women who call us from other towns and cities because they cannot find any help where they have been dispersed to.  So far the main source of funds to cover these essentials has been churches, compassionate people (often on a low-income themselves) dipping into their pockets to give individual donations.

 

We ask especially lawyers, journalists, doctors and other professionals to consider their financial position not in relation to others in their profession but to asylum seekers and unwaged organisers, and to contribute to the Emergency Fund – preferably with a regular commitment.

 

For more information call 0207 482 2496,

E-mail aawg02@googlemail.com or post Crossroads Women’s Centre 230a Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2AB.  See overleaf for how you can make a donation.

^* Black Women’s Rape Action Project www.bwrap.dircon.co.uk, Legal Action for Women www.allwomencount.net & Women Against Rape www.womenagainstrape.net are based there. 

 

By donating to the Asylum Appeal set up on LAW's behalf by Women in Dialogue (WinD), the charity which runs the centre, and signing a Gift Aid Declaration, WinD can claim back the tax paid.  In this way the value of your donation is increased at no extra cost. If you are interested, please fill in the form below: