Almost a year since its creation, the Marama Alliance UK (MAUK) is going from strength-to-strength, empowering women in the Fijian community across the UK, and it’s particularly supportive of those connected to the military…
“Marama means woman or lady in Fijian,” explains committee member and army spouse Suliana Tuiteci.
“Our main aim is to create a network so that together, we can encourage, assist and advise each other on life in the UK.”
One of MAUK’s biggest achievements has been organising networking events in Larkhill, Catterick and Inverness, which have brought together women in the Fijian community to support one another.
“Through these events, women can share their personal struggles, speak about their businesses and also have girl time,” adds Suliana. “By creating a safe and open space, our hope is that we will empower Fijian women.”
Audrey Hicks, who attended one of the events, says: “Thank you MAUK for always creating a safe space for us to simply be us. Yesterday was a day full of laughter, food, tears and inspiration.”
The Alliance also runs a voluntary mentoring programme and is looking for more women to sign up to be mentors and mentees throughout this year. In addition, through its blog, it aims to encourage Fijian women to be proud of who they are.
“We feature blogs on various topics relevant to our members such as the challenging and rewarding work of carers, women entrepreneurs, education and young people, military life and career goals, domestic violence and mentoring,” adds Suliana.
“We’ve had a great response from women who have attended our events and on our social media. This is the first time we’ve had something like this for Fijian women and it’s been very humbling to see how much it was needed.”
Want to know more? Go to maramaalliance.com, join the Facebook group ‘Women’s Talanoa’ or follow on Instagram @marama_alliance_uk