Why 300 bras are hanging on a makeshift clothesline outside a Taradale office

Harcourts Taradale office administrator Adrienne Mist with the bras that have been donated to women in the Islands, as part of the Uplift Project. Photo / Warren Buckland

More than 300 bras hang on a makeshift clothesline outside Harcourts Taradale office, in the suburb's centre. Why?, you may be asking.

It isn't because someone forgot to collect the laundry.

Nor is it a prank. Instead, it is to give the many women in the Pacific a new sense of freedom. And this year, Rural Women New Zealand Korokipo Branch, along with Harcourts Hawke's Bay, decided to get behind the charity, The Uplift Project.

Korokipo Branch president Tamzin Coull said they had supported the Uplift Project for a number of years, sending bras initially to Christchurch and then to Cambridge.

This year, however, they were approached by the North Island Coordinator to become a "Drop Off" place in Hawkes Bay in June 2019. Coull said it was a "great way for us to support other women through such an awesome project".

She said they were grateful for the support Harcourts has given to the project by getting on board as drop off points in both Napier and Taradale.

Branch member and Harcourts Hawkes Bay agent, Cathy Scott said they had been "inundated" with bras, and other intimate items to send overseas.

While there is no set time to drop the bras off, she says this time around they decided to publicly show their support by setting up a display on their front lawn. "We just wanted to thank the community for donating."

The Uplift Project's New Zealand co-ordinator Pauline Watson said since 2012, New Zealand women had sent about 50,000 bras to Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu, but the demand was always growing.

She said without a bra, some women of the Pacific Islands couldn't be employed, nursing mothers didn't leave the house because they were leaking, and schoolgirls stopped playing sport without the support.

"In some households in the Islands, they have one bra between five women. Whoever has the appointment or has to go to town that day gets the bra.

"They have to share it, so forget about sizing. So often, Uplift is the only bra they've ever had in their life," she said.

Korokipo Branch Rural Women NZ are providing collection points in Hawkes Bay for
the Uplift Project at:
Harcourts 207 Gloucester St, Taradale
Harcourts 308 Hastings St, Napier
Ruby Glen Orchard 92 Powdrell Rd, Meeanee
Tamzin Coull Chartered Accountant 1322 Korokipo Rd, Waiohiki