Happy Women's Group

30/01/2026

Happy Teen Girlz Support Group ✨️😎
Turning Poetry into music! 🎶

30/01/2026

On Wednesday, the ladies attended a Department for Communities consultation hosted by Forward South Partnership. It was a fantastic opportunity for networking and, most importantly, for ethnic minority women to have their voices heard. Whilst Afag attended the zoom meeting for us 🙏

On Thursday, Danisa met with Briege of Forward South Partnership for a catch-up. Happy Women’s Group holds Forward South Partnership very close to our hearts — they are the organisation that paved the way for us and believed in our vision from set day, securing funding and supporting our growth to date. We humbly consider them our “mother” organisation. Meeting with Briege was truly inspiring, and we are deeply grateful for their continued trust and support.

Leaders from our Happy Women’s Group sub-projects — the Sewing Project and the Happy Spectrum Support Group — attended the Bank of Ideas to present their projects and network with others. Their passion and dedication were evident, and they absolutely stole the show!📸

The women are deeply committed to leading projects that support and empower other women who share similar lived experiences. Through these initiatives, they are creating safe spaces where women can combat loneliness and mental health challenges while learning new skills to help sustain themselves others and build confidence.

A huge well done to all our leaders for how far they have come — driven by pure commitment and determination. Nothing stops a determined woman!💪💗

We also want to acknowledge the unseen but vital wellbeing support work led by Edna, who tirelessly supports and advocates for newcomers in hotels and within the wider community. We are incredibly grateful for her compassion and dedication.

Congratulations to our leaders who commenced their Community Leadership Training today with Annadale Community Centre.

We continue to create safe spaces where women and girls are empowered to thrive ✨️
"We Journey Together " 💗💪🙏

30/01/2026

Last Friday at the 5th Element, the teen girls absolutely loved the space and the programme. A huge thank you to the 5th Element for providing such a great opportunity. We also wouldn’t have been able to support the girls to attend without the support of The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland

This programme gives the girls a safe and creative space to be themselves and express who they are through poetry, music, dance, and flow.

This is absolutely cool 😎🆒️

Every Friday till end of February! Bring your Teen girls! 🤗

25/01/2026

> Our Happy Women’s Group lead volunteers had a truly rewarding day on Friday, attending *First Aid for All* training by St John’s Ambulance — made possible by our amazing funder The National Lottery Community Fund
🛟🚑

> Unfortunately, due to limited spaces, we could only accommodate a small number of participants. We would have loved to train all our members, especially those living with children or family members with additional or special needs, we're looking to do the training in the near future 🙏🛟

> We finished the weekend on a high with swimming lessons for the ladies and teen girls including the Teen girls MUGA activities.

All made possible by our partners, Triathlon Ireland coaches and lifeguard , and to our funder for making all of this possible. 💙

Also grateful for the space providers for all these events;
Fitzroy Presbyterian Church 🙏

Also a well done and congratulations to our ladies for attending these trainings and making sure HWG is up and running.

Not forgetting the ladies who are on the go with Supporting those in need and new comers daily by advocating, sign posting and offering Befriending services 💗🙏
Massive thank you to our volunteers/ volunteer-leads and leaders 👏👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

On our calendar this week ladies:

Monday:

Digital skills Training with Supporting Communities
🕑10am
🏠Mornington Community Centre
&
Support and Advocacy whilst you enjoy arts & craft with Pop-ups at Mornington
🕑10am

Tuesday:

Safeguarding Training with Volunteer Now.
🕑10am
🏠Fitzroy Presbyterian Church.

Wednesday:
Community meeting with
Forward South Partnership
🕑 9.30am
🏠 Agape Centre on the Lisburn Road

Friday:
Happy Teen Girls - Intercultural meetings and activities with The 5th Element.
🕑5pm

Saturday:

Swimming for all groups 🏊‍♂️🥽

Wishing everyone a week full of kindness 🤍

23/01/2026

💯💯💯💯💯💯

Girls should have the right to wear trousers to school. It's common sense.

But the DUP Education Minister is blocking this right.

Thats why Alliance is helping draft a bill through Education Committee to give girls this choice.

Have your say 👉 https://consult.nia-yourassembly.org.uk/education/proposal-for-a-bill-on-wearing-trousers-in-school/

20/01/2026

Happy Women’s Group attended the S*x Trafficking Training today hosted by Belfast & Lisburn Women’s Aid, delivered by Mia from Ruhama and Helen from Women’s Aid Belfast. It was an amazing and deeply insightful session, highlighting shocking statistics about who is involved in s*x trafficking and the alarming number of women being held against their will, pimped and forced into illegal prostitution.

It was great to see the Policing and Trust sector present, as it is happening in Belfast now and a concern.

More awareness, collaboration, and action are urgently needed to protect vulnerable women and address this growing issue in our communities.

Well done to Women’s Aid for hosting this great event.

*xtrafficking
#

20/01/2026

Yesterday was another busy and successful day, made possible thanks to our funders The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland who enabled venue hire and the delivery of vital training.

We started the morning with a fantastic digital skills session led by Colin from Supporting Communities . He guided us through internet safety and shared valuable advice on how to protect ourselves from online scams.

In the evening, we attended Autism Awareness training delivered by two wonderful ladies from Autism NI . The session focused on understanding and supporting people with autism.

This training was particularly crucial for us as an ethnic minority community, where being on the autism spectrum can often be misunderstood or mixed with stigma and cultural misconceptions. The knowledge gained will be valuable for the work we hope to do, for supporting families, for our wider community, and as an important skill for employment or further study.

There was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding on autism, helping to break down barriers and increase awareness.❓️🤔

A huge thank you to our funders, venue providers, the organisations that delivered the training, and the caterers. 🏘👩‍🏫🍲🙏🤍
Most importantly, thank you to the ladies who committed their time to attend and invest in their own learning—well done!🙎‍♀️🙎‍♀️🙏💗

🍒 Cherry on top!
Thank you to Habitat for Humanity for donating toys for the ladies with children on the spectrum. Our AFAG, who constantly think of others, made sure we collected the toys for the families. Thank you, AFAG—you’re amazing! The ladies are incredibly grateful. 🙏💗

18/01/2026

Happy Women’s Group – A Weekend of Impact and Empowerment ✨️

Happy Women’s Group ladies and Teen Girls were honoured to be invited to meet Lord Mayor Councillor Tracy Kelly Lord Mayor of Belfast on Friday morning at her Parlour.

We ensured that the voices, concerns, and lived experiences of both the ladies and the Teen Girls were heard. Rita, one of our Teen Girls, spoke passionately about holiday hunger and the importance of free school meals for all. Other Teen Girls bravely shared the challenges they face with racism in their daily lives 😔

The ladies raised concerns about the hotel situation in Bangor—thankfully now nearing closure—as well as highlighting the ongoing projects delivered by Happy Women’s Group.

We sincerely thank the Lord Mayor for taking the time to meet us, listen to us, and truly engage with our experiences. We are grateful for the opportunity to be heard 🤍🙏

Our appreciation also goes to the schools attended by the Teen Girls for recognising this as a valuable and unmissable opportunity and allowed the girls to attend the visit. 🙏🤍

We are equally thankful to the parents who supported the girls by attending and witnessing them confidently meet and speak with the Lord Mayor 🙏💗

On Saturday, we proudly launched the second round of our Ladies-Only Swimming Lessons, now extended to include our Teen Girls Group 🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏊‍♀️

The girls are absolutely loving it! Alongside swimming, they also enjoy MUGA activities with the swimming instructors and coaches🤸‍♀️👯‍♂️

All 3 groups were a great success.
Water truly has a magical way of lifting spirits—everyone left smiling and in great form 🤗☺️✨️

We are deeply grateful to our partners . Your professionalism is outstanding, but what truly stands out is your kindness, warmth, and genuine care for both the Teen Girls and the ladies 🤍🙏

Thank you to the pool owners for continuously hosting us and for understanding the importance of these lessons 💙🙏

Thank you to our volunteers for ensuring everything runs smoothly 💗🙏

And a massive thank you to our funders The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland for making it possible for this vital work to continue 🩷🙏.

These swimming lessons are designed for women who cannot swim in public settings due to cultural or religious reasons, personal circumstances, or lived experiences such as domestic violence, human trafficking, body dysmorphia disorder, and other personal challenges 💖

We remain committed to creating safe, inclusive, and empowering spaces for women and girls to thrive 🙎‍♀️🧕👩‍🍼🏊‍♀️🤸‍♀️👯‍♂️💪✨️

13/01/2026

An Update from Happy Women’s Group 💜

One of our lead volunteers and board member, Afaq, successfully secured Christmas gifts for families in need during the festive period. These gifts were distributed based on the level of need and vulnerability among children and parents, including ladies staying in a hotel with children awaiting dispersal accommodation.

With the incredible support of Edna, our board member and lead volunteer, distributions continued right up until 24 December. We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who helped deliver these gifts to those who needed them most.

We are deeply grateful for the funding that made this possible and for the strong leadership that ensured these efforts reached the most vulnerable.

Danisa (Khanyisa) attended a meeting at the with supportive community members and a manager from Ards and North Down Borough Council, who have worked tirelessly alongside Mears to support the ladies in the hotel. We were truly taken aback by the solidarity shown by the local council and community. Despite ongoing anti-immigrant protests every Friday, this community consistently showed up—week after week—to stand against hate and in support of the ladies.

This was a real highlight for us and a powerful example of the true spirit of Northern Ireland.

We continue to provide wellbeing support to those in need, and our dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly to ensure that anyone requiring support receives it.

Our volunteer Doaa, who is also our Forward South Partnership CSG Representative, attended an event with FSP and is now linking Happy Women’s Group with them—an exciting step forward.

The Happy Teen Girls Group enjoyed their Friday session last week at 5th element, where they engaged with another group through poetry, music, and dance. The girls left with big smiles, and we are incredibly grateful for this partnership and to our funders who make the girls’ group possible.

Monday was just as busy. Danisa met with Julia from the Migrant Centre NI to discuss an exciting upcoming project—stay tuned for more details!

At the same time, some of the ladies attended a meaningful meeting at NISA with the Department of Economics, and the ladies made sure they were heard! ☺️

We are extremely thankful for the continued generosity of donations, including coats and food, and to our funders whose support enables us to engage with communities, deliver activities, and develop impactful projects.

“We Journey Together” is more than our motto—it reflects our commitment to walking alongside one another and with all the partners we’ve built along the way.

Thank you 🩷💜💚
The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland Community Foundation for Northern Ireland

13/01/2026

Happy Women’s Group is grateful to our funders for making these trainings possible, in order to empower the ladies and in the group and in the community build their capacity. These skills will benefit the organisation, families, and job seekers alike 🙏🙏🩷

The training addresses skills that are greatly needed —personally, organisationally, and within the wider community.

Unfortunately, the available slots were taken in the blink of an eye, showing just how high the demand is, however
We have few spaces are available on the safeguarding/Autism Awareness Training 🩷✨️

We sincerely thank our funders, venue providers, and the professional organisations that will be delivering the training 🙏

The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland


@

06/01/2026

Few spaces left for Autism Awareness Training by Autism NI

All made possible by our funders The National Lottery Community Fund Northern Ireland ✨️