Opportunity for growth: Participants showing their artwork during an art therapy session.
KUCHING: Empowering women and girls to thrive and fulfil their potential lies at the heart of PurpleLily’s work.
The Kuching-based non-profit organisation provides training in financial literacy and life skills, focusing on women and girls from rural areas and the B40 group.
“Working women have the opportunity to learn to grow in soft skills.
“But B40 and rural women, especially housewives, don’t have that kind of opportunity. So we teach them soft skills that are beneficial to them like financial literacy,” said PurpleLily chairman Suraya Bujang in an interview.
Suraya said financial literacy is important as financial problems are one cause of family break-ups.
“When we conducted financial literacy programmes, we noticed that the participants lacked confidence to speak up.
“So we imparted self-confidence and communication skills as part of the training,” she said.
When PurpleLily asked women in rural areas what workshops they would like, the answer was stress management and motivation.
“We come up with modules based on feedback from our participants,” she added.
Similarly, Suraya said school students attending PurpleLily workshops in 2017 started asking questions about reproductive health.
As a result, PurpleLily started a new programme on sexual awareness as a safe space for girls to ask questions on the topic.
This workshop is included in the girls camp conducted by PurpleLily for girls aged 15 to 19.
Suraya said the most recent girls camp was held in Kuching last December and the next one is scheduled for Sibu in August, both sponsored by Mitsubishi Corporation.
“It’s a three-day, two-night programme to build self-confidence, communication skills and sexual awareness, as well as team-building and outdoor activities.
“We have younger and older participants wanting to take part, so we also accept those who are 14 or 20 years old,” she said.
In addition, Suraya said PurpleLily held women empowerment programmes this year with funding from Axiata Foundation.
Suraya (left) hopes to secure funding to ensure that PurpleLily continues its work empowering women and girls.
“This is for B40 women, aged 20 to 45, but as usual, there are women exceeding the age limit interested to join.
“Three programmes on financial literacy, health and mental well-being were conducted in January, February and March.
“We are also trying to secure more funding to continue these programmes as we would like to hold them in other parts of Sarawak besides Kuching,” she said.
Suraya said PurpleLily’s work over the years had benefited the participants in various ways.
“Some women gained the confidence to discuss financial issues with their husbands after attending the workshop. We also met a few who were abused but kept quiet about it. After attending our programme, they realised that there are avenues for them to reach out and get help.
“This is because in our workshops, we promote other NGOs such as the Sarawak Women for Women Society and Befrienders,” she said.
Suraya said hearing these testimonials from participants motivated the PurpleLily team to work even harder.
“Our programmes also encourage women to take part in community work and initiate networking among themselves,” she said.
“Through the training and support, PurpleLily is building skills and confidence in women and girls to have a brighter future.”
