As President Elect of the SIGBI Federation, Pat Black travelled to India to charter a new Soroptimist club in the south of the country.
President Maureen Maguire asked me if I could deputise for her and go to India, to charter a new club at Kodaikanal while she was chartering SI Masaka in Uganda. This plunged me into a new experience in a wonderful country that I had never visited, giving me the opportunity to see many of the projects supported by members across southern India.
Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu was ready for a Soroptimist Club. The women there had worked hard to become part of our Soroptimist movement. I was joined on the journey by my husband Michael, and as the journey progressed by Margaret Clark, from the Federation Leadership Development Sub Committee. We were hosted in her home by Dr Anuradha Uberoi, another member of that Sub Committee who lives in Chennai, our first port of call.
We visited all three Clubs in Chennai and to see some of their projects. I cannot possibly do justice to them all but will try to give you a flavour. If you are interested in supporting then I am sure the clubs would love to hear from you.SI Chennai, in partnership with SI West Betuwe, Netherlands, support a project in one of the poorest areas of the city; an ambitious programme providing education, health, social and welfare support in the community. The Club members have improved the schoolroom, and extended the building. Some children are collected from their homes (to make sure they come) and are given a basic meal. This work is done with other service organisations and NGOs as well as civic departments, it’s long term work but the results are clear as the children have grown older and been able to use their basic education to move on into mainstream schools.
SI Chennai Magna’s main project is a school but it was on holiday, so Margaret Clark visited later and presented notebooks to the young people on behalf of the Club members. The Club has supported the school for many years and the project has been very successful so now the local government have agreed to provide these books and the Club will move on to a new project.
At a Club meeting I listened to the discussion on the way forward; one possible project would be to offer support to girls who have been subjected to violence encouraging them to talk about their experiences in a safe setting and supported by a qualified counsellor; a second project is to assist with restoring a local library so that the facilities will be open to all again; and supporting a village school is another possibility.
SI Chennai Downtown works with Aashraya to help women ‘in distress by providing them with total care, shelter and the opportunity to earn their living with honour and dignity’ – a Refuge. A building has been provided by a local church but needed refurbishing, so the Soroptimists have enabled this to be carried out, including providing better cooking facilities. Their recent support has been in the development of a business for the young women. Alongside the usual craft businesses, a small business has been very successfully developed to produce affordable sanitary napkins; the proceeds are used to give publicity through Police Departments about the shelter. Whilst I was in India SI Runcorn and District texted Naina Shah, the Programme Action Officer to say that they had raised £750 to support this project. You cannot imagine the excitement amongst the members at this news! The money will be put to excellent use!
Anu and Margaret accompanied me to Kodaikanal for the chartering, with members from the National Association for India, and members of SI Bangalore, SI Pune Metro East, SI Chennai, SI Chennai Downtown, and SI Chennai Magna; wonderful supporters with such encouragement for the new Club.The charter ceremony for SI Kodaikanal was well supported by the local community, attended by the local Police Commissioner, local District Commissioner and his wife, and members of the other local service organisations. It was a great honour for me to present Founder President Anjul Mittal with their charter and the other members with their Club name badges. There was a wonderful party after the ceremony with entertainment by local children and food for every palate.
The next day we had a whistle stop tour of Club projects. One of the most impressive is ‘A Burning Need’, a project which installs stoves with chimneys to prevent smoke being released into living rooms. The women are educated in the safe use of the stoves and this project is now saving lives and improving the health of women and girls in Kodaikanal with 40 stoves installed.
Other projects include working with a local hospital to provide health checks and health education for children from local orphanages, and running a ‘Goodwill Centre’ providing food and clothing for the poor of the area, whilst at the same time training women in running a business. In all of these projects the Soroptimists work with other organisations as partners and are supported by other Soroptimist Clubs.
Reluctantly we left Kodaikanal and drove back down the mountainside to Madurai. However, the members of Madurai were keen to ensure their hospitality was equal to anywhere else in India and we all had a fun evening at one of the member’s homes with excellent food and drink in very comfortable surroundings. Earlier we had visited the village school they support and presented gifts to the children.
Next morning it was up early to take part in the inauguration of a Soroptimist sponsored park created from wasteland. The event was spectacularly well organised and well supported. The Madurai District Commissioner, a politician committed to improving the environment, cut the ribbon with me.The layout of the park was created following a competition amongst architectural students at the local college; it has a play area for children, shaded areas for sitting and well thought out planting. SI Madurai has given a great legacy to their city.
The sounds and smells of southern India will remain with me for the rest of my life. I have made many new friends, and as for everyone who charters a new Club, SI Kodaikanal will be very special for me.