Pandora Project’s chief executive, Tracy, explains how the organisation has started using an outreach vehicle called Dora to help isolated women who experience domestic abuse in rural Norfolk.
This year will certainly be one to remember. The year women were locked in with their abusers. The year children weren’t allowed to go to the safe haven of school. The year referrals to domestic abuse agencies stopped.
For us, 2020 also brought with it some amazing funding opportunities. As well as emergency funding for PPE and other safety equipment, we were awarded funding from Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner for a mobile support unit, Dora.
Norfolk is a very rural place, so it’s ideal for perpetrators who want to isolate their partners as part of a coercive and controlling game plan. Some villages have no access to public transport, none at all. Villages are spread out from each other and communities can be very close knit. This gives perpetrators the opportunity to groom the locals, then they become part of the prison walls. According to the National Rural Crime Network report 2019, women suffering domestic abuse in rural settings live with their abusers for 25% longer than their urban counterparts.
One of the reasons is that there’s a lack of services and no way to get there. Statistics tell us that if there is transport available, on average it takes two hours to attend a support meeting, compared to 25 minutes for women living in urban areas. Women are less likely to call the police and less likely to leave.
One of our clients, Emma, isn’t allowed to leave the house, except to drop her children at school, a short walk away from her home. Her partner checks her mileage on the car every morning and evening. He goes out to work every day but calls her on the landline every hour and she has to answer. If she doesn’t, he calls her mobile, then he comes home from work to confront her. His mum lives nearby and she also keeps an eye on Emma. There is no public transport and no escape. Emma doesn’t trust anyone in the village and believes that neighbours are reporting back to her partner, which they probably are.
Using shotguns for hunting and pest control is common practise in Norfolk and perpetrators often have easy access to weapons. Emma’s story is not uncommon and shows a picture of rural life for domestic abuse victims in Norfolk.
Dora is an outreach vehicle to reach women who can’t get to us. We arrange our meetings with current clients in places like supermarket car parks. This means they can return home with shopping and nobody knows they’ve also popped in to see us. We don’t advertise the vehicle. There are no signage or drop ins and everything is pre-booked. Clients have stated that they feel very safe in Dora, it feels secure and discreet and women feel able to talk freely. We carry safety alarms, personal care packs and food vouchers to give out to women in need.
Visit Pandora Project’s website and follow on Twitter.