Rebuilding lives
583. Ismahane Motrani
Ismahane Motrani has supported more than 500 BAME women to rebuild their lives after domestic violence.
She coordinates a pioneering peer support network to help abused women facing the challenges of often very strong cultural and family ties. She facilitates mentoring, mutual support and opportunities to fill the family and cultural void left when women escape abuse, with others who have been through it and now lead independent lives. Multilingual Ismahane also provides translation at formal appointments for the women. She has recently begun working on an innovative new regional heritage project to collect the unrecorded experiences of BAME women in the north east across the generations.
In a personal letter to Ismahane, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“The peer support network you coordinate is doing so much to help women escape abuse. I was moved to hear that you have supported more than 500 women.”
Ismahane said:
“This is great news, I was overjoyed to hear about this! Thanks to The Angelou Centre for supporting me to use my skills and knowledge to help BME women. It has been very rewarding and I have learnt new skills and grown in confidence”.