Somali Women’s Information Line

Three days a week, the Somali Women's Information Line is open to help Somali women settle and integrate into Canadian life. The Line improves links to service providers and eases communication between Somalis and the service providers.

The Line offers support, outreach, crisis intervention, counselling and other services. Women call with many different kinds of problems, and Maryan the coordinator and the Information Line volunteers respond with a variety of solutions. Recently, Carlington Community and Health Services has expanded the services of The Line to include the option of accessing health facts. Info clips in Somali provide information on subjects like smoking, breast cancer, etc.. The Line volunteers are also able to provide cultural interpretation over the phone to people unable to make themselves understood, and accompany women to medical appointments, meetings with schools, landlords etc...

The Somali Women's Information Line was originally started in 1996 by a group of Somali women on a volunteer basis. For the last five years, The Line has been very popular among the Somali community and has gained a lot of support and respect from the Somali women and other agencies working with immigrants.

We are very pleased to congratulate the Somali Women's Information Line volunteers on the wonderful contribution they have made to the lives of Somali women in Ottawa.