Student Midwives Inspired to Raise Funds for Victims of Violence
A group of first year students at Bangor University have been inspired to raise funds, following a subject of study on their course.
The midwifery students, ‘Team Ogwen’ were tasked with a group project about violence against women and how different types of violence can affect women during pregnancy, labour and also postnatally. During their research the team came across very upsetting and disturbing subjects, such as forced marriages, female genital mutilation, trafficking, war and domestic rape as well as domestic violence.
As a group they decided that they couldn’t just write an academic assignment about this and then walk away. They decided to try and make a practical difference by fundraising for the Eaves charity, whose mission is to expose and address violence against women and girls in the UK. The group decided on and a zip wire challenge and one of the organisers, Andrea Thomas said:
“As some of the group suffer from acrophobia or a fear of heights, this meant that it would certainly be a challenge for us”.
On 8 March 2015, International Women’s Day, the group went to Blaenau Ffestiniog to ride the Titan zip wire, where riders reach speeds up to 70mph over moor, mountain and mine.
“Up to date we have raised £568.50, which is amazing and we are blown away by the generosity of everyone supporting us. The page is still open and we are hoping to reach £600 and therefore double our original target of £300. If anyone would like to sponsor us and help us make a difference please go to the following link: https://www.justgiving.com/Criw-Ogwen-Group1 said Andrea.
The actions of these student midwives has not only raised money, but even better, through their fundraising event, a manager for C.A.L.L. Helpline, which offers emotional support and information/literature on Mental Health and related matters to the people of Wales, was made aware of this issue. He checked the database and noticed that they did not have any organisation helping women suffering from violence on their system. He has since added Eaves to the database and C.A.L.L is now signposting victims to Eaves, which would not be the case if it wasn’t for the actions of these students who, despite being only in the first year of their course, are already contributing to the wellbeing of vulnerable women in Wales.
If you would like to see how the fundraising went then please have a look at the video here.
Publication date: 31 March 2015