More bras are needed for women living in Greek refugee camps, says Dunchurch Baptist Church member Sue Gordge.

Former teacher Sue has been helping her lifelong friend Shena Cooper to send clothes, toys, school uniforms and household furnishings to people in the Ritsona refugee camp for the last five years.

“They have nothing. And we have so much. And so much I can see going to landfill here,” said Sue.

“Women’s clothes we send have to be culturally appropriate - high neck, long sleeves, long below the knee. They particularly want bras. That’s a long-standing request.”

The reason for bra donations makes sense when you understand what Sue has discovered:

“A lot of the women who make their way to the camp have trauma of sexual assault. This is the reason they want bras. If you wear a bra in the [countries they come from] it can mean you’re wealthy, which means your family could afford retribution for the assault. It [the bra] is a badge of respect.”

Some charity shops in the UK won’t sell used bras, but Sue is very keen that the lingerie isn’t wasted. She’s managed to negotiate with one Cancer Research shop to put donated, used bras aside to be given to refugees in Greece.

Ritsona ‘long-term accommodation site’ is on the Greek mainland, 75km from Athens. As of December 2020 there were 2,476 people living there, almost half of whom are children. The families and individuals at Ritsona mostly come from Syria and Afghanistan, living in containers or apartments at the camp.

“Some of the camps on the Greek islands are abysmal because they’re so overrun. This camp near Athens is actually one of the better ones, but it still gets incredibly muddy. Festivals have nothing on it. It gets incredibly cold and blisteringly hot,” Sue said.

The way they help is similar to so many grass-roots projects: friends helping friends, helping friends. Shena has a holiday home in Greece, where a neighbour, Mary Dallas, helps out at the Ritsona camp. After the Syrian refugee crisis, Shena, and then Sue were determined to help too.

Sue said: “Shena’s been sending stuff personally for years and then I thought I could help. And now all my friends have been helping: it’s snowballed. In January we sent 52 house removal boxes.”

Sue and Shena arrange for lorry-loads of boxes of donations to be sent overland to Ritsona four times a year. It costs them on average £20 per box, money which comes from donations or their own savings. There’s additional paperwork now too, due to Brexit.

The next lorry-load will be sent in March 2021.

The need is great and growing, says Sue.

“Whatever we send, it’s not enough. Whatever we can do will not satisfy the need. There are more refugees coming,” added Sue, referring to Sir David Attenborough’s prediction of increased climate refugees in the future (A Perfect Planet, BBC 1, 31st January 2021).

For more information or to make a donation of money, clothing, shoes, small toys, children’s books or soft furnishings, contact Sue Gordge or Shena Cooper via the Crick Noticeboard Facebook page