Bags of goodwill for abused women

THE members of the Wandsbeck Women’s Institute recently made a hearty donation of care bags to the Westville SAPS.

Lyn Mcleod and Rosemary Lang from the group, a civil awareness and community support organisation, handed over a large amount of hand sewn goodie bags for women who have been victims of violent crime or sexual violence. Each bag contains a face cloth, soap, sanitary products, sweets and a small perfume. All these things were purchased and sewn up by the women from the Institute.

“We have our many-year-old Community Police Forum project Safetynet running, under Cheryl Robertson, where community volunteers are called by Westville SAPS to scenes of violence and provide comfort and support to traumatised victims. The Net can now also hand over some of these gift bags to women who have been traumatised. This is one small, but powerful tool, to show our collective care for victims of crime, especially under the national focus on crime against women and children,” said Sgt Stephen Clark, media spokesman for the Westville SAPS.

He said it fell in with the renewed Domestic Watch project at the station, where domestic workers are educated and sensitised in the prevention and awareness of crime as well as the measures they can take to reduce the risks of becoming victims. “Domestic workers are members of our community, even if they just work in the area, and deserve every measure of support the Westville SAPS and CPF can holistically provide,” said Stephen.

The acting Station Commander, Lt Col Tommy Stewart, was delighted to receive the bags from the women and sincerely commended their effort to bring a level of community unity to the police’s efforts.