Aminata Maternal Foundation’s Bluff & Swagger Fashion Lunch was a celebration to remember. Our Cheer Squad, the team of volunteers, models, African drummers and supporters filled the room with the contagious and joyful spirit of Shout ‘Gladi Gladi’, in celebration of women overcoming adversity and celebrating their strength and resilience.
Our drummers set the rhythm for the day letting all those hear that AMF was there to celebrate all things Sierra Leone, and to raise funds for our Training and Accommodation Hostel. This project beginning in 2017, supports pregnant teenagers by providing free accommodation and vocational training to vulnerable young mothers, who would otherwise be homeless.
With your support, this event was able to raise nearly $28,000. What a phenomenal result! Our team is brimming with joy.
Key outcomes for the girls are:
- Baby and childcare education, ensuring these young women are able to look after their own children and to care competently for other children
- Competent in housekeeping activities, especially important because many of these young women have never lived in a house before.
- Competent in catering with a focus on cooking methods, food hygiene and food presentation.
- Skilled in how to plan and organise tasks and activities.
- Conflict management.
- Given financial and commercial understanding in small business and trading.
- Taught much valued local handicrafts such as beaded shoes, armlets, bags and waist-beads and door/floor mats as a source of goods to trade.
The funds raised from this event will continue to provide facilities and develop our training programs and opportunities for these young mothers. This programme has been a vital part of supporting and empowering adolescent first-time mothers, helping to pull them out of poverty through vocational training and job placements.
We are incredibly grateful for our sponsors who helped make 2019 Bluff & Swagger Lunch the colourful and meaningful celebration that it was. Thank you to African Family Safaris, Africanologie, 2SydneyStylists, Ole Lyngaard Copenhagen, Eden Road Wines, Bianca Spender, byfreer, Carla Zampatti, Moët and Chandon, and PWC.
READ MORE ABOUT WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO
‘Rising Heart’ and raising spirits in the Women’s Weekly
Have you seen the September issue of Women’s Weekly yet? This month features a six-page special on the life & journey of Aminata. She talks about her life during the war in Sierra Leone, her settlement in Australia as a refugee, and what inspired her to start the Aminata Maternal Foundation. Having our Founder in […]
Read More
Available to order
29 sleeps to go until my memoir, Rising Heart, will be released & in your hands! I feel so excited and humbled to share my story with you. Order now You know that my story is a message of hope and resilience despite experiencing extreme trauma. My dream is for every mother in Sierra Leone to […]
Read More
Your help is vital in Sierra Leone
Donate today A special thank you to our supporters who have already generously donated to our emergency COVID-19 appeal. As we head into the end of the financial year, now is the perfect time to make a tax-deductible gift. We are only $20,000 short of our target for this Tax Appeal campaign – any gift […]
Read More
Business Chicks Australia Instagram Take Over
Thanks to Business Chicks Australia for the opportunity to amplify refugee voices in Aminata Conteh-Biger‘s take over of the Business Chick’s Instagram on the 16th of June. Aminata shared some images from our inaugural Bluff & Swagger African Fashion Lunch at SCEGGS in 2018, our first AMF Mother’s Day Walk in 2019, and second Bluff & Swagger Lunch […]
Read More
Rising Heart out August 25
You’ve waited very patiently and we’re delighted to share that Rising Heart will be released on 25 August 2020. Please join us in pre-ordering Aminata’s memoir ‘Rising Heart’ ASAP, and if you are super organised and have already done so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We trust you are just as excited as we […]
Read More
Show your thanks this Mother’s Day!
MOTHER’S DAY IS ON SUNDAY 10 MAY 2020 This Mother’s Day make your mother feel extra special by helping mothers on the other side of the world. Give the gift of hope by purchasing an Aminata Maternal Foundation donation e-Card or join the Foundation’s Mother’s Day social media campaign. This Mother’s Day we’re thankful to […]
Read More
