How far we have come
2026 with outstanding journey of healing and getting the title of healers
We now support over 3000 women and children throughout Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Hull Sisters is growing from strength to strength despite the barriers it faces from bureaucracy and religious leaders who put fences in our way. We are proud that our women are calling us ‘healers’.
There is still work to do but the centre is bright and colourful. We are rapidly growing out of space. Upstairs access is difficult, the office is tiny, its freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer but it’s still home. We need more money; more help and more support – with all of that we could do so much more but every day we manage to open the door and provide help so that’s a step forward.
We are led by women we support, which means our management, staff, and trustees are Black and minority women. This gives us a unique understanding of the specific needs of the communities we serve and how best to protect, advise and represent them.
Women who attended Hull Sisters as service users have become volunteers and employees. They understand the issues that the service users experience at a deeper level as they have been through them themselves. Their experience includes violence and abuse, forced marriage, threats of honour killing, FGM, poor physical, mental and sexual health, poverty, low skills and unemployment.
Our multilingual specialist support workers are highly qualified and have more than 15 years of experience. They have in-depth knowledge and understanding of our women’s cultural needs and issues.
Running through the week there are English as Second Language (ESOL) Classes, IT Classes, Warm Space mornings, Food bank and food kitche. lunch and Counselling, driving theory, employability, health hygiene awareness, healthy eating, money management sessions and body image. We have regular Zumba, Yoga and fitness sessions, Mother and baby sessions, Maternity groups, sewing classes… regular one to one confidential support sessions, quartly domestic violence and abuse training and mental health awareness training courses along with first aid, safeguarding, accredited domestic violence, FGM, employability, and more sessions are coming each month.
Our specialist teams qualifications include M.Sc. (clinical psychology) PhD (sexual violence) M.Sc. (social policy, applied social research) and B.Sc. (psychology), certificates in FGM, Safeguarding, Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Yoga etc. Our staff speak a range of languages, including Arabic, Kurdish, Persian, Somali, Bangladeshi, Urdu, Punjabi, and Swahili.
2022–2025 marked a defining chapter in the fight for women’s rights for Hull Sisters.
During these years, hostility and racial bias against us reached their peak, leaving us isolated while new services were created around us and generously supported with funding and resources. Yet, instead of being silenced, we became trailblazers. We refused to accept a system where women of colour are expected to endure racism, discrimination, and neglect in silence. We raised our voices for those who face injustice every day and every minute—from unsafe services to unequal treatment by those in power. Our work shifted the narrative: from survival to resistance, from exclusion to leadership. As a result our reports and concerns illustrating the gap in the services were denied. We have been excluded from attending strategic meetings. Our voices were muted but women in large number keep attending the centre. We are the only organisation in Hull and East Riding who received such a large number of women through words of mouth.
Our Impact Reports gained national and regional recognition and were shared widely among funders and statutory services. We were invited to speak at national women’s conferences, not as observers but as experts shaped by lived experience. Today, Hull Sisters stands as a lifeline for thousands of women who have nowhere else to turn- women seeking safety, dignity, and justice. For detailed evidence of our achievements, we invite readers to refer to our annual Impact Reports, alongside the extensive local, regional, and national media coverage and case studies that document our work, our courage, and our unwavering commitment to women’s rights.
2024
Never say things can’t get any worse, because they do. We thought things couldn’t get worse after our eviction, but then the far-right riots arrived in Hull. Streets full of rioters, shops vandalised, fires lit, hatred everywhere you turn.
Our women were frightened to leave their houses, let alone come to the centre. Fortunately, our community is strong, and our faith is with us. With no help from those in authority we managed to keep the bonds of friendship and continue to get food packages to those in need. News crews came to the centre to shout about our story and the support we were giving but the help from the authorities never came.
We fought on and continued the support and our women realised we weren’t going anywhere. The strength continued and the women gradually regained the confidence to return to the centre. Hull Sisters strength remained.
2021
As disaster hit the country in the form of COVID we were struck with our own crisis in the form of eviction. We lost the roof over our heads and ended up homeless. As the country were locked down and cases of domestic violence nationally rose, the women who most urgently needed our help were left with nothing.
With very little notice, no where to go and no help from those who should provide it, we were literally thrown onto the streets. We were at crisis point, and our women with us.
Local and national news groups picked up our story and Hull Sisters became headline news. We suddenly got the publicity that we deserved.
We had temporary accommodation which helped in the short term but that couldn’t keep us safe for long. Months passed by and we relied on the front room of our CEO.
Finally, we got the lease of a 27 year empty warehouse from Hull City Council. A derelict wreck of a building which took lots of work from the women, but we made it home. A lack of tables meant classes were held on the floor but it was home!
2020-2021
2020–2021 were the darkest and most painful years for Hull Sisters and the women we served. The Covid lockdowns, combined with the absence of meaningful support from funders and the voluntary sector, made survival almost impossible. We were evicted from the building where we had been operating, and the hostility towards us reached its peak. We knocked on every door for help, but instead of support, people were discouraged from standing with us. Even when a church offered us shelter after our work was featured by the BBC, they were pressured not to help by local services and funders.
After exhausting efforts, we managed to hire a café that opened in the evenings and allowed us to use the space during weekday mornings. But this small lifeline was brutally taken from us when some criminal broke in and stole everything of value, our sewing machines, laptops, and vital equipment. We were then charged for the damage to the windows and doors. With nowhere left to go, the entire organisation including public food donations, was moved into a board member’s house, and we continued our work from her living room, refusing to abandon the women who depended on us.
Following repeated media reports and a public campaign, we were finally granted a meeting with the Leader of the Council, who promised us shelter – only to withdraw that promise later. Still, we did not give up. We continued campaigning, and on 31st October 2021, we were handed the keys to a building that had stood abandoned for over 20 years. A contract was signed that made us responsible for repairs, utilities, and business rates – a heavy burden that felt like punishment for raising our voices. No voluntary organisation stepped forward to help us. Yet the spirit of the women remained unbroken. With no resources but endless determination, we began cleaning and repairing the building bit by bit. The building desperately needed renovation, and even then, we did not yet have full access to make it safe but we had hope again, and hope was enough to keep us going.
2019
2019 became a year of painful awakening and undeniable strength for Hull Sisters. While the number of women relying on our services continued to grow, the financial pressure became almost unbearable. Instead of encouragement, we faced extreme hostility from parts of the voluntary sector and local funders. As a small, women-led organisation, we were confronted with racialised doubt and exclusion that questioned not only our work but our right to exist. After reaching the final stage of a a couple of health and skills related funding programme, we turned to another voluntary organisation for guidance, only to be discouraged, undermined, and blocked through the misuse of influence, depriving us of vital support. At the same time, a local college offered us free training courses to strengthen our staff and volunteers, yet even this opportunity was taken away under harsh and unjust conditions. In the face of cruelty, silence, and systemic barriers, we recognised our true strength: despite being pushed aside and held back, we refused to disappear. We continued to stand with the women who depended on us, carrying their hopes while enduring injustice, and learning that our survival itself was an act of resistance.
2018
Over time, Hull Sisters grew far beyond expectations, driven by relentless hard work and the rising confidence of vulnerable women who came to see the centre as a place of safety and solutions. The number of registered women increased to 500, placing enormous pressure on an organisation already operating with very limited financial resources. Despite these constraints, the work did not stop; instead, the very women who once received support stepped forward as volunteers to help others, creating a powerful cycle of solidarity and resilience that carried the organisation through the following years. New initiatives such as beauty care and body image sessions were introduced alongside vital awareness programmes on FGM, domestic violence and abuse, and antisocial behaviour, most of which were delivered entirely through voluntary effort due to the lack of encouragement from local funders and other VCS sector. Yet, despite this strength and determination, the surrounding area remained a hostile environment for migrant and BAME women, making Hull Sisters’ role as a refuge and advocate more critical than ever.
2017
In 2017, our community continued to grow in strength and confidence, with the number of registered women rising to 410 and participating in a wide range of activities at the centre. Our English and support sessions became a lifeline for many women, providing not only learning opportunities but also a safe space to be heard and understood.
This year, our awareness sessions on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and domestic violence encouraged many women to break their silence and seek support. For the first time, women came forward to share their daily struggles and asked for guidance on how to rebuild their lives and move forward independently. These moments marked a powerful shift from fear and isolation to courage and hope.
Many women also needed help with health-related issues and medical appointments. Women affected by FGM often told us that GP services did not fully understand their condition or the trauma they were living with. We stood beside our sisters, contacted GP practices on their behalf, and explained their specific needs so they could receive compassionate and appropriate care. We also advocated for women to be offered appointments with female nurses and doctors, ensuring their dignity, comfort, and safety were respected.
Through trust, awareness, and solidarity, 2017 became a year where more women found their voice, their strength, and the confidence to take their first steps towards independence.
2016
Our activities continued throughout 2016 and engaged around 270 women in a wide range of programmes. Alongside our cooking sessions, we introduced community support in the form of food parcels to help women experiencing poverty. In addition to yoga sessions, we also launched Zumba classes and sewing sessions to promote physical and mental wellbeing.
We continued to support women with their individual issues by working closely with relevant council departments. We also actively engaged with local schools and children’s services to advocate for children from minority backgrounds, particularly where families felt their children were experiencing discrimination within schools.
2015
2015 is another successful year for Hull Sisters. Regular food related support in our activities along with other services. Our healthy eating sessions and cooking lunch services become popular among service users. In this year our numbers increased to 180 women. Along English and one to one support sessions and group support sessions, we also started yoga sessions for women to be physically and mentally active.
2014
In 2014 further more than 100 women only enrol for English and group support session. Our centre also start employability classes along the other sessions and also support our women engaging with statutory services although worked on scarce funding.
2012-2013
In 2012 our founder, Sonia Jalal, realised there was no dedicated service or support for women of colour in Hull. She hired a community hall where 79 women turned up to seek support and help, and so began Hull Sisters.
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+44 07539 321502
sisters@hullsisters.org
Unit 12 Station Drive, Hull, HU5 1AD
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