It started as a casual conversation between friends, now 17 women are currently taking part in a project, funded by the City of Whittlesea to support migrant and refugee women in the area.
“It’s about forming a social group, starting conversations, learn some moves and having fun,” Bobby Lama, one of the women behind the project, told SBS Nepali.
“Catching up over Zoom for Zumba sessions became a necessity, especially around this time of uncertainty.”
Together with her friend, Shweta Bohora, they applied for a Whittlesea CALD Women’s Groups Grant. It was approved, and their Zumba lessons became a reality in March this year.
A group of Nepali women in Melbourne conducting weekly Zumba classes online Source: Supplied
Since the project started many Nepali speaking young mothers from the area have started to come together once a week and take a break from “daily household chores”.
“I am a single mother myself and I know how important these social groups are for women when it comes to supporting each other,” Ms Lama says.
The idea of conducting Zoom classes wasn’t new but getting more than ten women together during physical distancing restrictions became more challenging than they anticipated.
Melbourne's Nepali online Zumba group 1 Source: Supplied
“Pretty much everyone we knew were doing zoom meetings and conferences so we decided to start Zumba on Zoom,” says Ms Bohora.
“Initially, it was a disaster as we were trying to figure out how to run it. We had our Zumba instructor at one end while all these women were waiting to follow his lead and the music wasn’t loud enough for everyone to hear, we could hear the little kids crying on the background. There was so much happening at the same time,” Ms Lama said.
“With each week, things started to get easier.”
Emma Antonetti, Equity and Impact Manager at Whittlesea Community Connections, acknowledges the power and effectiveness of these community grants.
Nepali community members in Melbourne take part in online Zumba lesson Source: Supplied
She says it gives women a space to do what they want to do and for some women, this might be the only opportunity to come out of their normal responsibilities and do something for themselves.
“Groups get to choose whatever they want to do like cooking, exercise, mental health, art and craft. Through that, we find that women do talk to each other obviously, develop friendships and talk about what is going on in their lives.”
But it’s also about assisting women experiencing various problems including family violence.
“As part of this project we prepare women in those groups by providing them information and training to be the leaders of the group and have that clear understanding of what family violence is, how to identify and respond to it.”
Talking about her own passion and involvement in the community, Shweta Bohora says she has always loved working with other people. This led her to study public health and health promotion to understand and support members of her community experiencing problems.
Melbourne's Nepali Zumba group in action online Source: Supplied
She says her education background and experience in designing projects, writing grant applications and reports played a key role in securing this grant with the council.
“The health issue this grant is supporting is family and domestic violence around women of CALD background and we took this opportunity as a platform to start conversations within our community while being active doing Zumba” says Ms Bohora.
“Most of the women in the group are trying to take a break from their everyday gendered role especially as a mother and at least have an hour to themselves.”
“Band of Women in Action is the official name our group,” she says.
Bobby Lama and Shweta Bohora, members of Melbourne's Nepali community started the online Zumba classes Source: Supplied
Once the physical distancing restrictions in Victoria start to ease, the group is hoping to hire a child care worker to look after the children while their mothers are participating in Zumba classes.
But for now, though, the group comes together every Sunday to talk to each other and show off their latest Zumba moves via Zoom.
Note: The reporter is also part of the Zumba group.
