SI Gravesend and District, UK, Working with Girls – East
Meets West Fashion Show

Members worked with and mentored students at the Northfleet
School for Girls, Gravesend, UK, to present a Fashion Show. Students made the
clothes and modeled them and with Soroptimist input, designed the posters,
tickets and programmes. Soroptimists managed the ‘front of house’ at the
Fashion show and two local stores provided clothes for the girls to model.
Raising the profile of Soroptimists in the community, members worked with
students, helping them to understand what it takes to bring a fund raising
activity to completion.

Members met with staff and helped with planning, critiqued the
posters, flyers and tickets, helped with selling tickets, assisted with
budgeting; and ensured there were sufficient members to staff stands, the door
and sell raffle tickets. Soroptimists of Gravesend have had a working
relationship with this school on several projects in the past. The event also
helped the school to raise money for their charity – Women’s Aid. The girls who
took part in the Fashion Show are to be presented with certificates to evidence
their participation.

 

SI Lautoka, Fiji – Water solutions for Disaster Management

During natural disasters many villages lack access to safe
drinking water. SI Lautoka received a request from the Advisory Councilor of
the Drasa area, Mr Sheik Saheb regarding water problems experienced during
natural disasters. The request was for water tanks to be placed randomly in
this rural area so that families would have access to clean water during such
crucial times. SI Lautoka has experienced first-hand the problems faced by
families during flood and cyclone during relief work in the area in 2012. The
club obtained quotes for water tanks and sought assistance from SI Sister clubs
from within the SWP Federation, approaching the clubs during the SISWP
Conference of Clubs in Kuching, Malaysia. The response for funding from sister
clubs was positive, so the club worked with the advisory councilor in identifying
areas for the base to be built for the tanks to be set up.

 

Seven tanks were bought – 1 X 5,000 litre for Drasa primary
school, which is the main evacuation centre for this area during disasters, and 6
x 2,000 litre tanks for the families in the communities. The project completion
was in October when the country was experiencing severe drought and this
brought much needed relief for the families. The official handover was done by
the Minister for Women, Ms Rosy Akbar, which strengthened the ties between SI,
the Fiji Government (Women’s Ministry) and the community Friendship links (SI
Hong Kong, SI New Zealand South Region, SI Mount Gambier Inc, South Australia,
SI Barossa Valley Inc South Australia, SI Sigatoka and SI Rakiraki).

The project was supported by City Star Newspaper (banner
design for water tanks, official invitation design for handover program and
media coverage), Rotomould Fiji Ltd (water tanks) – delivered the water tanks
in the community and assisted with the set-up of the tanks. All tanks have
banners/stickers prominently displayed for SI and project publicity.

Sponsorship was gained from Oceania Water Group Fiji, Total
Navutu Service Station and Faiyum Furniture & Joinery – Advertising
sponsors.

The communities now have access to immediate water supply
during disasters. This will ensure that families will be able to cook, wash and
clean immediately after disasters and will not have to wait for water pipes to
be repaired for the rehabilitation process to start. Families can bounce back
quickly and avoid health issues and outbreaks which usually occur after natural
disasters due to lack of clean water. The families in these communities have
expressed their gratitude to SI.

One important aspect of this project apart from the
assistance is that there is maximum publicity for SI as all the water tanks
have stickers with the SI logo prominently displayed. Since the water tanks
have a 25 year warranty publicity will continue and the best part is that this is
a sustainable project. We will do more such projects in other needy communities
and schools..

"At this stage I must also commend SI for their efforts
in making lives better for our people. Projects of such nature not only benefit
the women, but the community as a whole and will certainly improve their
standard of living. Water is a necessity of life, I am sure you will treasure
the gift given to you and take good care of them." Minister for Women Rosy
Akbar’s.

 

SI Cape of Good Hope – Lourier Library

In an ongoing project, SI Cape of Good Hope, in a
partnership with the University of Cape Town (volunteers) and Western Cape
Department of Education, renovated two classrooms at Lourier Primary School into
a library area, accessed, covered and classified books for the new library,
employed a part-time librarian (assisted by volunteers) and actively encouraged
the children to read in an effort to improve literacy and a love of reading. This
year saw pupils taking books home for the very first time – and all books were brought
back! Pupils are developing reading lists and can talk enthusiastically about
the books that they have read.

 

SI Bombay Chembur, India – World Aids Day – An
Awareness Drive

In a project partnership with Mahatma Night Degree College,
Chembur, Mumbai. SI Bombay Chembar exhibited a street play in the national
language of India, i.e. Hindi for the people living in the slum area of Mumbai.
It focused on generating awareness on two key pillars viz. (1) Prevention for
those who are not infected and (2) Care, support & treatment awareness for
those who have been infected. The play demonstrated the various causes for
spread of this disease and also highlighted the various myths about it. The
street play promoted the need for extending love and support to the AIDS
affected patients without any fear.

To break the taboo associated with this infection and the
word ‘HIV’ and ‘AIDS’ among the masses it was hoped to minimize the incidents
of HIV infection through proper awareness of prevention of HIV infection and
also break the myths regarding its spread. With the awareness given to them
about the Government initiated programmes for their betterment, the club hoped
to see many people taking adequate measures to prevent this disease as

The local people gathered enthusiastically to
watch the street play. They could comprehend a lot from the play as it was
presented in Hindi. After the play they asked many questions which were ably
answered by the Soroptimist members. They appreciated the awareness drive on
the topic, which is still considered a taboo in India. Most of them
acknowledged that it was an ice-breaker amongst their families, allowing them
to feel more open in talking about it and seek help and support to fight HIV.

The club hope to make a documentary film on Aids Awareness
which would be able to reach to a larger audience in the near future.

SI Gold Canyon, USA – Reaching Out – Hope Women’s Center

Hope Women’s Center serves vulnerable women and teen girls
facing any difficult life situations by providing support for their physical, emotional
and spiritual needs. This organization is always in need of personal care items
for their clients, plus anything to bolster these women emotionally.

The community drive provided a pick up load of items like
toilet paper, diapers, deodorant and shampoo, to name a few. These items will
stock the shelves of Hope. Separate from this drive, our members opened their
hearts to fill 28 Christmas stockings for Hope’s clients who attended their
annual party. We filled them with fun items like nail polish, faux jewelry and
gift cards. The bounty of goodies were delivered on the same day, bringing the
Center’s manager to tears. The manager of Hope spoke for their clients who will
soon receive the much needed items: "Saying Thank you just isn’t enough.
Many of our clients barely get by from day to day and they will be overwhelmed with these generous gifts."

 

SI Sigatoka, Fiji – Walk the Talk-Zero
Tolerance 2014

SI Sigatoka,
Fiji, got behind the 16 Days of Activism by advocating for ‘Zero Tolerance’ on
violence against women and girls. They sent letters to all departments,
statutory bodies, women’s groups, businesses and community groups to raise
awareness about the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign, and to help
rally the community around this cause. As part of these wonderful efforts, SI
Sigatoka organised a presentation on the importance of eliminating violence
against women. Community leaders and representatives from a variety of
religions all spoke at the event, showing that we must have a united message –  “Zero Tolerance – Zero Victims and Zero Violence”.

 

SI Chennai, India – City Shandy

SI Chennai,
India is now in its 9^th consecutive year of holding ‘City Shandy’,
a project that helps start-up women’s small businesses reach out to the
community. SI Chennai holds a bazaar at a local school during an open day.
Parents who come to meet teachers then also get a chance to help empower women
as well. Ninety women-owned businesses are supported through this successful
project, that helps to keep businesses thriving and build business confidence.