Women’s Wellness package
By Emma Keevill
“The role that women play in our society is incredibly important,” said Andrea Durfee, communications manager at Ulnooweg Education Centre when describing her organization’s recent Women’s Wellness project which received funding through the Nova Scotia Health Community Health Boards Wellness Fund. “We need to take care of women’s mental wellness because they are our teachers, our caregivers and our protectors in so many ways.”
Ulnooweg Education Centre’s Science and Innovation program, formally known as Digital Mi’kmaq, inspires youth to learn about science in a way that’s conducive to the communities they are a part of through inspirational events and educational programs.
The word Ulnooweg means in its literal translation, “L’nu, it acts like” connecting to the Indigenous culture, language and knowledge of this region. The Indigenous-led charitable organization aims to bring foundational change and empower Atlantic Canada’s Indigenous youth and communities.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ulnooweg Education programming shifted to support kids who were at home and potentially isolated from their peers, communities and safe spaces. The team at Ulnooweg began sending Community Health Boxes to Indigenous communities that included personal protective equipment (PPE), which was difficult to access at the time.
“We wanted to ensure our communities were safe, so PPE was the first thing we focused on,” said Durfee. “We were sending out Community Health Boxes to health centres in Indigenous communities across Atlantic Canada and even branched out to Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Anytime we heard of a PPE supply issue related to COVID-19 in an Indigenous community, we were reaching out and sending health boxes.”
As the Ulnooweg Education Centre gained momentum with their Community Health Box project, they started receiving an increased amount of donations and funding for PPE from community groups and sponsors who wanted to get involved.
“With our increased resources, we wanted to find ways to reach beyond the community health centres. We wanted to help those who were facing adversity and vulnerability because of the pandemic so we started developing the Woman's Wellness packages,” shared Durfee. “Our organization is led by strong women who support each other, and we wanted to support other women in the same way.”
Durfee said that although her team’s efforts were focused on targeting Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia, 50 per cent of Indigenous people live outside of those communities. She also shared that during the pandemic, many women needed to leave their homes and seek shelter and safety as domestic violence and gender-based violence cases increased.
Through funding received from the Nova Scotia Health Community Health Boards Wellness Fund, Ulnooweg created this new type of wellness package, this time in support of women and their families by distributing canvas bags to local women and family shelters.
The Women’s Wellness packages included products and resources to support health, wellness and mindfulness. The Ulnooweg Education team identified several Indigenous women in business and supported them by putting some of their products in the new Women’s Wellness packages. They partnered with businesses like Soul Flower Herbal which sell soaps and moisturizers, N’Tus Cosmetics which provided sanitizers, Mi'kma'ki Craft Supplies which provided dream catchers and sage and Sarjesa Teas which provided soothing earl gray teas. Books and PPE were also included in the packages.
“The partnership with these businesses gave heart to our bags,” said Durfee. “We didn’t just want to support these women in business, we also wanted to inspire the women receiving these packages to say, maybe this is something I could do to support myself too.”
The initial Women’s Wellness packages were sent on March 8, 2020, International Women’s Day. Since then, the initiative has developed over 500 packages for 12 shelters and community centres across Nova Scotia.
The project has had overwhelmingly positive feedback from the women and shelters that have been supported. Durfee and her team hope that the packages also inspire Indigenous people who receive them to feel connected to their culture and heritage, even if they’re not physically in an Indigenous community.
“When you're outside of the community and in a place that’s unknown, it's difficult to find that connection — that sense of self identity. An important part of this project was to give people something to connect to and ground themselves in,” said Durfee.
“This Women's Wellness project would have not been possible without the financial support provided by the Community Health Board’s Wellness Fund,” said Durfee. “We are so grateful for their partnership in this initiative, they were also a huge help in connecting with the shelters and other community groups, helping with distribution and more.”
