First Minister Michelle O'Neill interviewed Domingas Gusmão, a migrant mother from East Timor, at her constituency office in Cookstown. The session supports 'Heritage Journeys: Voices of Migrant Women in Mid Ulster', run by First Steps Women’s Centre in Dungannon. The initiative received £231,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The project records stories from 100 migrant women who settled in Mid Ulster from 2000 to 2024. Materials will go to the Linen Hall Library in Belfast for archiving.

Domingas moved to Dungannon 14 years ago to join her husband, employed at Moy Park. Her three children were born in Northern Ireland.

O'Neill, a lifelong Mid Ulster resident, took the interviewer role to prompt more women to participate. Gusmão discussed challenges of integration, community acceptance, fears of racism, missing family in East Timor, and support from the Dungannon centre where she learned English.

Gusmão operates a small business selling hand-crocheted items and maintains East Timorese music, cooking, and crafts. She gifted O'Neill a crocheted table centrepiece and made one for Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly.

O'Neill stated her goal as First Minister to foster an inclusive society in Mid Ulster that welcomes diversity. She called on migrant women who arrived since 2000 to contact the centre.