November 2020 - Anti Slavery International & DKMS

November's meeting was supporting the WI's wider campaigns with guest speakers Rebecca Chambers from Anti Slavery International and Sarah Gray from DKMS.

Both speakers provided an eye-opening insight and shared some surprising statistics to their charities hoping to raise awareness.

Anti-Slavery International

The world's oldest human rights organisation having been established for over 180 years.

Today there are over 40 million people who are enslaved today. 1 in 4 of these people are under 18 years old! This equates to 1 in 200 of the world's population being enslaved.

Shocking numbers in today's society.

Rebecca presented the history of the charity, how they work today to not only raise awareness but to also educate people about their rights who are currently enslaved today & some signs which might help identify some in this terrible situation.

Here is a brief list of some of the common signs:

person might avoid interaction
reluctant to talk
dropped off / collected from work at unusual times
no belongings
wearing the same clothes

Additional information can be found on https://www.antislavery.org/

DKMS

Set up in 1991 originally in Germany, DKMS now operate in 7 countries globally and account for one of the world's largest donor register.

In the UK, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer every 20 minutes; worldwide this number is every 27 seconds.

Unfortunately there still isn't enough awareness around blood cancer today, so DKMS are campaigning to increase awareness and demystify some of the myths around being a donor.

It is much easier than you might imagine.

Only 2% of the UK's population is registered as a donor; worldwide only 0.4% is registered.

If you would like additional information or would like to register please visit:

https://www.dkms.org.uk/en/thewi