[Please be aware this article covers the topic of suicide]
“I was traumatised, I had so many bad thoughts in my mind” said Laure as she recalls the time two years ago when she first met the women from Love Welcomes in the refugee camp in Greece. “I was thinking, ‘what am I living for?’”.
The levels of trauma and distress - caused by war and violence, a treacherous journey across the Mediterranen and then the harshness of life in the camp - are unimaginable to many of us.
But this is Laure’s experience along with the other women who create beautiful hand-woven products for Love Welcomes.
SOS in Morse Code is an international distress signal - and for Love Welcomes it symbolises the urgency and immediacy of the need to support these women. We must listen to their call and act now.
The orange thread is woven through everything we do and is a personal message from the women to us. And this personal message of love can be shared by us all in a gift for a loved one this Christmas.
It’s a message we must share at a time when world leaders are turning vulnerable and traumatised people away, they are building walls and putting up barriers. They are failing to respond to the SOS distress calls from families forced to flee war.
By creating and sharing these beautiful products the women are speaking directly to people who care - you. The women are sewing in the orange thread as a distress call and these products are giving amplification to their voices.
In a moment of calm reflection Laure quietly shared “I felt like committing suicide – these were the thoughts going through my mind. But when I knew about Love Welcomes and I started weaving, all of these thoughts suddenly melted.”
This work and support is only made possible because the Love Welcomes community around the world cares and acts. It is a community that takes a stand by purchasing gifts that go further. Gifts that benefit refugee women directly. Gifts that say “welcome”. Gifts that say I reject the walls and barriers and I choose humanity first.
And this incredible response from so many people in different countries allows women like Laure to dare to hope again and think about a better future. Laure now says: “I’d love to carry on weaving if I have the privilege. If only I can leave the camp and find something like this elsewhere, then I will be very happy to continue weaving, because it has really been a great help to me.”
This is why we respond to the SOS. “This is the truth about weaving and the truth about Love Welcomes.” says Laure.
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