Talking about family and sexual violence is not comfortable for anyone. But for ethnic communities in Aotearoa, there
are specific differences and barriers that need community-based solutions, says Silvana Erenchun Perez, manager of
Shama.
“We are a very diverse group of communities really, all coming under the “ethnic” umbrella. Migrants, refugees, but also
New Zealanders whose families have been here for one generation or more.”
Ms Erenchun Perez is thrilled with the recent announcement of funding for national-level family violence and sexual
violence prevention initiatives for ethnic communities in Aotearoa. Shama received $242K for several prevention
initiatives – the first time there has been this kind of targeted funding.
This is part of a $2 million commitment from Budget 2019 to understand violence prevention needs and develop violence
prevention initiatives in Rainbow, new migrant, disabled, at-risk and older people over two years. The details were
announced by Minister of Prevention of Family Violence and Sexual Violence Marama Davidson earlier this week.
“The funding means we can continue the community-based work we have been doing over the last 18 months. We are starting
to see some exciting projects coming out of our partnerships. Animations for ethnic teenagers about social media,
workshops for parents and community leaders speaking out to prevent child sexual abuse, first-language videos to start
conversations about sexual violence in our many communities. There is a lot of energy for us to work on solutions for
ourselves.”
Shama delivers workshops with interpreters when working with refugee parents. “We try to reduce barriers as much as we
can, by working with the awesome ethnic community groups out there and doing what people need,” says Ms Erenchun Perez.
The new funding also includes a role to connect ethnic men’s groups together around ideas of healthy masculinity and
developing a healthy relationships programme for ethnic young people. “Ethnic men are already part of networks like
White Ribbon, or doing amazing community work in their mosque, or being great dads and contributors to their specific
ethnic community. We want to pull that all together to start talking about preventing violence.”
“And healthy relationships education here for young people has too small a focus for our ethnic lives,” she laughs.
“Ethnic young people have different family relationships, different obligations, and they might not even date if they
are part of a culture where marriage is arranged by family groups. They also need to work out how to deal with bullying
based on who they are, on top of all the things teenagers usually worry about. So that project is super exciting, and
it’s something our communities have been raising for a while.”
Ms Erenchun Perez says the Shama team includes many diverse ethnic, cultural and faith belongings, but they are keen to
see more funding for other ethnic organisations too. “We want to collaborate, to learn together, but we also hope this
is just the beginning for funding this work. Ethnic community organisations already do an amazing job connecting our
communities. Imagine what they could do if they were properly resourced!”
Shama offers support for all ethnic survivors of sexual violence, including long-term therapy.