On Jan. 23, the U of M’s Women Centre and Manitoba Laadliyan hosted a Gajra-making workshop in the Science Students’ Association (SSA) lounge.
The workshop celebrated the art of making traditional South Asian bracelets, while promoting community engagement and cultural appreciation for students.
The suggestion to host the Gajra workshop in pursuit of enhancing community engagement came from Ifra Shami, a Women’s Centre executive.
“Gajra’s are traditional South Asian bracelets worn by women,” explained Shami. “And I’ve always loved the idea of bringing arts and crafts that have been cultivated by women traditionally for generations to the university.”
Shami further explained that she believed the workshop would help individuals connect with their culture and was a way for students to take a break from academics and relax.
She added, “I’m personally a really artsy, crafty person, and I just wanted to spread that.”
Manitoba Laadliyan’s primary goal with the Gajra workshop was to empower all South Asian women, but they were happy to find that many non-South Asian women participated and were interested in learning about the craft.
Sehgeet Thind, co-president of Manitoba Laadliyan, said “that’s something that means a lot to both clubs, that people are coming out of their comfort zone and then trying something that maybe they haven’t learned before.”
The Women Centre’s main goal was to bring all sorts of people together from different walks of life.
The Women’s Centre is located in 190 Helen Glass. Educational resources, hygiene products and safe sex supplies are available for those in need.
Heaven Kaur, the Women’s Centre representative, stated that their biggest goal was to bring the community together by hosting community assemblies.
“We bring people together by collaborating with different student groups on campus.”
According to Thind, Manitoba Laadliyan is part of the Laadliyan organization that is active in Ontario, Vancouver and now Winnipeg. The organization strives to celebrate and empower South Asian daughters through engagement, education and awareness, by providing resources and career insights to women on campus.
“So either connecting them with mentors in their field or them just becoming mentors themselves.”
Jasmine Dhalla, Manitoba Laadliyan co-president added, “basically, a big goal of ours is to create safe spaces for the South Asian female community.”
To register and participate in the workshop, the donation of a feminine hygiene product was required.
The donations are in collaboration with the One Billion Rising initiative, which is a call to action in response to the statistic that one in three women will endure a form of abuse in their lifetime. Volunteers at the Women’s Centre will later assemble the donations into care packages and the World Sikh Organization will deliver them to women’s shelters on Valentine’s Day.
Donations can be dropped off at the designated bins in the SSA lounge, the human ecology lounge, the Women’s Centre and the arts lounge.
Donations of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, pads, tampons, baby formula,
diapers, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion, lip balm, mini Kleenex packs, deodorant
and Q-Tip packs will be collected by the Women’s Centre until Feb. 7.
