Soroptimists are keen to raise awareness of Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery so Swindon Club have decided to support the Medaille Trust. 40.3 million people are estimated to be trapped in some form of modern slavery in the world today. 136,000 victims are estimated to be in the UK.
Medaille Trust exists to provide refuge and freedom to victims of modern slavery – supporting them as they rebuild their lives. In Wiltshire they have a safe house which has 14 women, and also support another 20 women through the Moving On Project in Swindon. Many of those women have babies and toddlers.
Donna, the Local Coordinator at the Moving On Project, suggested Soroptimists could provide items for craft sessions to help the women relax. All members sprang in to action and at first donated teddies for the children, knitted by member Valerie.
Over the weeks bags of knitting wool and needles, as well as material, were sourced from friends and charity shops and donated to Donna again, along with clothes.
She and fellow Medaille Trust worker Terri also came to speak at our Regional meeting in Taunton where we donated a further huge load! South West Region members were staggered by the Trafficking statistics, especially that Albania suffers the highest number of people currently trafficked, due to the corrupt regime and poor conditions there.
This is an ongoing project where we will continue to support Medaille Trust and raise awareness.