Guest blog written
by Jan Cornwell, Secretary of Nutfield Gals WI
This blog is about the beginning of mine and Nutfield Gals
WI’s involvement with Reigate and Banstead Women’s Aid (RBWA), the amazing
women who run the Women’s Refuge and the women and children who find themselves
needing this massively underfunded and at risk resource.
By pure chance in late 2017 I became involved with my local
Women’s Refuge firstly by just donating mine, my sister and daughter’s unwanted
clothes and kid’s clothes and then quite soon afterwards as a volunteer.
In 2018 I spoke to my fellow committee members to see if we
could invite Emma who manages the refuge to come and speak about what the
refuge does at one of our meetings, they liked the idea. Thankfully she agreed to come and talk about,
the challenges involved and also spoke generally about the kinds of cases they
have to deal with. She also for the very
first time in public, agreed to tell her own personal story of escaping an
abusive and dangerous relationship.
To say the story she told of her own experience was
powerful, shocking, heart breaking and utterly appalling is a massive
understatement, the emotion and empathy in the room was tangible, we were
stunned into silence by what this 29 year-old woman had endured and
survived. She was and continues to be,
an inspiration to me.
The financial challenges of running the refuge are constant
and unrelenting, the CEO and staff spend far too much of their precious time
trying to find ways of saving money and securing funding. The Nutfield Gals decided they wanted to
help, so we do!
We regularly make donations of female toiletries and
baby/toddler items such as nappies and wipes. We also make donations of non-perishable
foodstuffs. The refuge provide a welcome box for all new clients which contains
toiletries and some starter foodstuffs - pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, beans etc.,
which helps the women have a measure of independence to feed their family until
such time as they have money to shop for themselves. They also have new bedding
and towels in their room and if they have children, a toy and book, however,
all of this has to be donated or funds raised to finance it.
All these things are desperately needed by the women and
their children, as they usually arrive at the refuge with nothing, just the
clothes they stand up in. Can you
imagine being so afraid for your life that you have to leave your home, your
friends and family, your belongings, your children’s toys and clothes and flee
hundreds of miles away from everything that’s familiar in order to be safe, not
a comfortable thought is it?
I’m going to be blogging regularly about mine and Nutfield
Gals experiences of being involved with such an incredibly worthwhile and vital
resource. I hope you find it interesting
and informative and that it stirs something in you to make you and your WI want
to get involved with your local women’s refuge. I really hope so, because this hideous abuse and control is going on
everywhere, in your town, your village, your street, maybe in your WI or worse
still, in your own family!
Did you know your WI can support your local women's refuge under the NFWI's violence against women mandate?
