Soroptimists worldwide mark October 3, the foundation date of the first club in Oakland (USA) in 1921, as Club Friendship Day, celebrating the role of SI in bringing together women from different cultures and backgrounds. In this week’s SoroptiVoice blog, Cathy Coyte writes about celebrating the birth of one of the newest Soroptimist clubs, SI Meru, and how Soroptimist friendships led her to set up home in Kenya.

 

The band is playing, seated in a blue pick-up truck at the head of a parade. Closer inspection shows all the players are blind. Behind them a yellow banner carried by ladies in yellow tee-shirts with blue emblems. Behind the banner a sea of yellow tee-shirts, black trousers and smiling faces.  Two further banners explain the mission and vision of these ladies – members of the new Soroptimist International club of Meru.  A troupe of traditionally dressed women bring up the rear, singing, dancing and rhythmically banging wooden sticks on their silvered wooden shields. Downtown Meru could not help but notice that Soroptimists had arrived in town!

 

Two years in the making, SI Meru was chartered on Saturday 31 of August, with 32 members. The 12^th SI club in Kenya and the third African charter that I have had the privilege to attend. 

It is through Soroptimist International that I am now living in Kenya. I am British by birth but moved to California for work and joined SI of Big Bear Valley in the Golden West Region in 1996.  This dynamic club really was the social, networking and service centre for women living in the small mountain community!  In 2000, I organised the Grant of Friendship visit of two Soroptimists from SI Nakuru in Kenya.  They invited me to visit them, which I did in 200; one of the most amazing two weeks of my life. I promised I would come back.  This happened 10 years later when I was trying to decide what to do following retirement from the crazy high-tech world I had been working in.  The Kenyan Soroptimists and their friends were so welcoming and encouraging that I decided to try my hand at living here.

So, back to Meru. After breakfast on Saturday the charter ceremony took place, led by the club’s “godmother” President of SI Eldoret, Sophie Koech ,assisted by Asha Abdulrahman SIE Vice President, a member of SI Nairobi  and the Charter Officer:  Mariet Verhoef-Cohen from Netherlands who is also SIE’s Africa Liaison Officer.  After each member had signed the required forms and the officers of the new club officially elected, the Charter Officer declared the club was now officially part of the Soroptimist sisterhood. This was celebrated
with much singing and dancing, and planting local indigenous
trees.  

   

 

Members and guests then piled into cars and a mini-van to visit some of the club’s projects.  First stop was a tree nursery and organic vegetable garden.  A member had a small plot of land she was not using well, so the club employed local women to dig the plot and do the planting.  The aim of the project is to grow good quality fruit trees, especially bananas, for local women to plant in their own shambas (small farm) to produce income. The women are also shown how with the use of organic fertilizers and careful planning a small amount of land can support a lot of crop including maize and kales.  As the plot is on a slope they planted rows of sweet potatoes to act as dams, thereby terracing the land, conserving water and avoiding harmful runoff getting into the area’s water system.

The second visit was to a classroom in a member’s school where the club is making re-usable washable, sanitary pads for school girls, another win-win project. The facility and sewing machine were donated by a member, the club pays local women to do the sewing and the pads, liners and carry cases are donated to girls at primary schools in rural locations where there is no money (or access) for disposables. Personally I have not been in favour of re-usable pads due to the difficulty of getting them stain free and drying them!  The design used by SI Meru has overcome these problems, the pad consist of two parts, both in dark colours that do not show stains.The menses fluid is collected by a liner that unfolds to look just like a facecloth, it is made of thin absorbent towelling that dries quickly and fits into a moisture shield that has loops so it can be held in place by a soft tie round the waist. This also solves the problem that many girls do not have panties. Some of you may remember the SANITARY BELT of old…  not such a bad idea when you don’t have well fitting knickers!  The pads have proved so popular that the club is going to teach women in the rural villages to make them so they can have another source of income.  The club also teaches the women how to make eco-friendly detergent for washing the liners and shields, and the rest of their laundry.

 

Both these projects impressed me as they were finding ways of educating women and girls by empowering them on the way to be able to sustain themselves and the environment.   Even more impressive, we were accompanied on the tour by a journalist from the government department of information who had been invited to attend the day’s events, this resulted in articles in local and national newspapers!

After lunch, further entertainment was provided by a local youth group who performed a play about a mother and daughter standing up to the father’s desire that the young girl should leave school and get married.   With the assistance of the local elders the father was persuaded to let the girl continue her schooling.  This was followed by a play from the women’s group about the problems of drunkenness in the village.   

We all got a much needed hour’s rest before a photo shoot of the new club members in their charter uniform of blue and yellow dresses, and video interviews with press and TV.

 

The formal handing over of the charter was done once darkness descended. As each new member of the club was introduced she danced her way into the hall to be met by her sisters from other clubs who danced with her to the front of the hall. It was magical, the escorting by established Soroptimists had not been planned, it just sort of happened! The ceremony ended with gifts and good wishes being presented to the club and the officials involved. 

I was delighted to be asked to read the greetings from around the world, all continents and federations were included.   This is Africa so the only way to end the momentous day is dancing till dawn!    

 

An update from Cathy following the dreadful terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall, Nairobi, on September 21, in which at least 67 people were killed and many more injured.

I am living far from Nairobi but like everyone in Kenya and
around the world, am totally stunned and shocked by the attack, which
involved  many innocent children who were having a fun morning learning
how to cook.  One Soroptimist was in the Mall at the time and escaped on
the Saturday afternoon, unhurt but traumatised.  As far as I am
aware no Soroptimist nor their close family suffered any loss or injury,
though we all have friends or acquaintances who were involved.

The [SI Kenyan] Union Board meeting was in progress in Eldoret at the time of the
attack,those attending who lived in Nairobi made the 6 hour journey home
that evening.  Helen Yego ,President
of the Kenyan Union has asked me to pass on how much we all have
appreciated the messages of concern and support that have been pouring in
from around the world. They show the truly international friendships
that Soroptimists have.