Dame Emma Thompson, DBE, was a great friend of Helen Bamber having met her when she was in her 20s and Helen was in her 60s. They had a close relationship, and mentorship, and Emma said of Helen, that:
"I've never known anyone with the kind of commitment and capacity to receive stories about suffering and to create harmony and to create a situation where people could recover and creatively begin to survive and live their lives again. She was one of the most inspiring people I've ever met."
Emma was impressed with the Helen's work at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture: providing care for those who had suffered the worst of human cruelty and supporting them towards a genuinely sustainable recovery.
She later supported Helen as she was establishing the Helen Bamber Foundation in 2005 and acted first as Chair of Trustees and now as President.
She co-curated “Journey,” an interactive art installation which used seven transport containers to illustrate the brutal and harrowing experiences of women sold into the sex trade and tortured. The exhibition toured the world, visiting London, Madrid, Vienna and New York and welcomed thousands of visitors. Emma worked very closely with Elena, a Survivor of human trafficking, to create the exhibition, tell her story and raise awareness about the atrocities of human trafficking.
Emma continues to lead and support the Helen Bamber Foundation as it develops and grows to continue the work she started, with Helen, all those years ago and reach more and more Survivors.
