The Duchess of Sussex has written personal messages of love and empowerment for street sex workers in Bristol to find in food parcels when they access night outreach support.<\/p>\n
Meghan spontaneously came up with the idea to inscribe the kind words on bananas with a marker pen during an unannounced visit to the charity One25 on Friday.<\/p>\n
The heavily pregnant duchess\u2019s messages to the vulnerable women on five or so of the fruit read, in capital letters and often followed by a heart: \u201cYou are strong\u201d, \u201cYou are special\u201d, \u201cYou are brave\u201d and \u201cYou are loved\u201d.<\/p>\n
One25 in the St Paul\u2019s area of the city helps sex workers break free from a life of violence, poverty and addiction on the streets.<\/p>\n
The Duchess of Sussex’s inspiring messages. Credit: PA\/AP<\/p>\n
The duchess, who was joined by the Duke of Sussex, took the initiative as she was about to gather the food in bags in One25\u2019s small kitchen.<\/p>\n
Meghan asked: \u201cActually do you have a Sharpie, a marker? I have an idea \u2013 a message.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was thinking about this the other day. I saw this programme this woman had started in the States on a school lunch programme when on each of the bananas she wrote an affirmation or something to make the kids feel really empowered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was the most incredible idea \u2013 this small gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Duchess of Sussex helped with packing the parcels. Credit: PA<\/p>\n
She added after asking if Harry also wanted to write a message: \u201cI\u2019m in charge of banana messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the 150 women who are still street sex-working in Bristol will receive the parcels containing the actress-turned-royal\u2019s message later in the evening.<\/p>\n
The \u00adnight outreach service runs from a fully equipped van, which offers food, first aid, warm clothing, condoms, safety alarms and a safe space to talk.<\/p>\n
Harry and Meghan visited the project. Credit: Marc Giddings\/The Sun<\/p>\n
Harry and Meghan were shown around and took seats inside the large vehicle, which is stocked with blankets, ready for the freezing temperatures amid winter snow storms.<\/p>\n
The duke and duchess also privately met a former sex worker who has been helped by One25 to escape from a life on the streets.<\/p>\n
Sam told Meghan and Harry about how she was groomed at the age of 14 into prostitution, and became addicted to drugs.<\/p>\n
The 43-year-old said afterwards: \u201cFor them to decide to come here is heartwarming and makes you think these women are not forgotten.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne25 were there for me when I had no-one. They helped me keep my children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam, who has been away from the streets and drugs for 13 years, described the visit as \u201camazing\u201d, adding: \u201cFor the women to know that Harry and Meghan have come here, it says we do matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sounds really cheesy but it is that feeling that somebody actually cares.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duchess of Sussex has written personal messages of love and empowerment for street sex workers in Bristol…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7721,7719,7718,7720,1281,447,7710,519,7711],"class_list":{"0":"post-818310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-duchess-of-sussex","10":"tag-duke-of-sussex","11":"tag-harry","12":"tag-meghan","13":"tag-meghan-markle","14":"tag-prince-harry","15":"tag-royal-families","16":"tag-royal-family","17":"tag-uk-royal-family"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116209153841587768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}