Wiltshire women's group calling for bra donations

The SI Salisbury campaign will run till the end of the June, with donation points at Five Rivers Leisure Centre and 60 Endless Street

A Wiltshire-based women's group is calling for bra donations for distribution across African countries.

Soroptimists International (SI) Salisbury have partnered with charity ZABRA -Afreebra initiative to send thousands of donated bras to the continent.

Last summer the group collected 3,735 "gently-used" bras for the cause and are hoping to reach more than 4,000 this year.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, SI Salisbury's communications and media officer Julia West said: “If everyone can turn out their drawer and just find one bra to donate that’s brilliant."

"They will give women self-esteem from a desirable garment," she added.

Ms West asked if the bra is beyond re-use people donate them to other charities that will recycle them.

Once the bras have been collected into bags of 100, Afreebra will transport them to partner organisations in Africa.

Ms West said the partners they work with will pair the distribution of bras in communities with educational projects for women and children.

Last summer Salisbury Soroptimists collected 3,735 bras for people in Africa

Soroptimist International is a global volunteer women’s organisation working together to "transform the lives of women and girls" with nearly 66,000 members in 121 countries.

President of SI Salisbury Michele Smith, who has been part of the group for five years, said the drive for bra donation is a "brilliant thing".

She said: "A bra changes a woman's life and we tend to take them for granted."

Ms Smith said they had been inundated with bras since starting this year's campaign, with people contacting the group all year round.

Founder of Rural Smile Foundation Abubakar Ahmed (C) and Founder of ZABRA Jeanette Kruger (R)

Founder of ZABRA - Afreebra initiative, Jeanette Kruger said: "The SI Salisbury group do a massive collection which is amazing."

Ms Kruger started the charity in 2015 when she realised none of her local charity shops would sell the four bras she was donating.

She said: "They were either going to throw them away or send them off to be recycled."

Originally from South Africa, the founder knew that there was a "big need" in her home country and asked friends and family to send her their unwanted bras.

"Before I knew it I had 120 bras and I realised I should let more people know," she said. "I started a Facebook page in 2015 and over nine years we've donated over 200,000 items."

These have gone to 30 countries and 250 charities and projects, Ms Kruger said.

The majority of bras donated in the UK will travel to the Rural Smile Foundation in Ghana, including those donated from SI Salisbury.

Ms Kruger said that the importance of bra donation cannot be understated.

"If a woman has to put food on the table for her family she's not going to buy a bra for herself."

The SI Salisbury campaign will run till the end of the June, with donation points at Five Rivers Leisure Centre and 60 Endless Street.