Ngalingah Mijung Dubais (NMD) translated from Bundjalung to Our Happy Women (OHW) represents a collective of strong Aboriginal women from across the Northern Rivers.
Established in 2015 as an initiative of YWCA Australia /Communities For Children, Our Happy Women provides a culturally safe environment for Aboriginal women to nurture, develop and restore community relationships that benefit jarjums.
Aboriginal community engagement facilitator Aunty Mim Bolt coordinates a weekly program that brings the women together in a culturally safe space. In this empowering environment, the women are able to nurture, develop and restore community relationships. The group use art and storytelling to support and empower each other to reach their full potential.
In a partnership with the YWCA and North Coast TAFE, artist Anne Leon engages the Our Happy Women group in Textile work (screen-printing, Indigo and Shibori, plant-dyeing, sewing and drawing), the women create garments of hand-painted silks, plant-dyed scarves, screen-printed and also dye their own fabrics and T-shirts.
Our Happy Women aspiration is to use their skills and talents in creative arts to established their own social enterprise. The women have identified entrepreneurship as a platform to; support the sustainability of the group, to create pride and offer their unique culture to the market, and to realise their vision for a stronger community for all.
Our Happy Women and the YWCA have requested support from Circulanation to build essential entrepreneurial capabilities, and necessary skills and knowledge required to sustain a successful business. Learning through a series of hands-on weekly workshops and pop-up creative arts shops Our Happy Women are steadily working towards establishing their own Arts and Textiles Social Enterprise, producing high-quality textiles, garments, and homewares.
Profits from the Our Happy Women social enterprise are reinvested to fund employment, education and training, cultural development and operations with the long-term vision of the organisation to be a self-sustaining and profitable enterprise. This social enterprise encourages and support women’s leadership and promotes economic empowerment and independence.
