This week’s
SoroptiVoice blog comes from Cathy Coyte, member of SI The East Bay in
Founder Region of SIA. Cathy had the honour of attending a club charter in Kenya at the end of last year. She first went to Kenya in 2001 to visit Soroptimist friends and she was made to feel so
welcome that she promised to come back for a longer stay. So in 2011, she went
to Kenya on a two month private visit and as part of this visit attended the charter of SI Maseno. Originally written on her mobile phone and sent to the chat line,
Cathy has since updated the text from the luxury of her home computer…
24 Young
and not so young ladies all identically dressed in Soroptimist yellow with blue
trim "ketenges" (Traditional African blouse and long, flared
from the knee, skirt) move through the room conga style singing "we
are best for women" in Swahili, they were so excited to be charter members
of the newest SI Club!
My trip to the charter started very early one Friday morning when Asha
Abdulrahman, myself and three other Soroptimists caught a coach from Nairobi
for the 5 hour trip to Kisumu. It was a beautiful drive – I even got to
see some giraffes, gazelles and zebras! We were met in Kisumu by two
members of the new club and taken to lunch at the hotel where they normally
meet, then escorted to the Agricultural Training Centre that was to be our home
for the next two nights. This centre, attached to the University of Maseno, is
a modern conference centre with about 50 single ensuite bedrooms, located
exactly on the equator. The charter president, Jesca Oredo, is catering
manager at the facility so we were guaranteed excellent meals, and the staff
were so helpful, especially Rose who delivered hot water to guests on the 3rd
floor by carrying a five gallon drum up the stairs on her head at some
unearthly hour of the morning!
After a
relaxing afternoon, a rather muddy walk and an informal dinner we all went to
help prepare the room for the next morning’s meeting, then sat around
introducing ourselves over a few late night drinks. One theme was
consistent through almost all the women making up the new club: Someone in
their past had given them a helping hand, normally with their secondary and
further education and now they feel the need to give back. Investing in
young girls is a great long term recruitment project!
The Charter officer is Guida Biewer, a SIE Governor from Luxembourg. Besides
being a Bank Manager, she is also a marathon runner (she has done the New York marathon
five times!) and was introduced to African Soroptimists via the Rwandan Peace
Marathon. There were actually three mzungo (kiswahili for “white person”)
present as the president of the sponsoring club is from Germany though she has
lived in Kenya since 1980.
Charter
day was dry and warm, a blessing in what has been an unusually wet November,
with crops damaged and flooding in many parts of the country. After breakfast I
was taught how to make big ribbon bows, which along with two large bolts of SI
gold and blue material, were going to transform the entrance hall of the
building into an elegant room worthy of the important occasion.
The serious side of the charter – the constitutional assembly – saw the 24
ladies sign documents to show they agreed with the Soroptimist constitution and
also a leadership agreement. This document was originally published by SIE in
The Link in 2009 and covers the basics to which all leaders should agree, such
as commitment, recognising and respecting the right of others to differing
opinions, and that leaders should motivate not dominate! Under the guidance
of the federation charter officer and the union extension officer the club
officers were officially elected and inducted.
Rose Mwangi, SI Maseno ‘godmother’, addresses the new Soroptimists!
After a celebratory dance, chorus and cups of chai (African tea), we all piled
into a matatu and various cars for a site seeing trip and tour of a club
project. The club has adopted as their logo a very spectacular granite
rock formation that we got to view as we drove to a village where a group with
the aid of the Soroptimists are practicing organic sustainable farming.
One of the Soroptimists is an agricultural advisor and identified this group as
being a prime candidate for assistance. The Soroptimists have helped
by funding a kitchen garden so that they can become totally
self-sufficient for food. After the tour, introductions and refreshments we
returned to the conference centre for a late lunch, the Charter Ceremony and
celebration dinner.
The hall we had decorated earlier had a mezzanine level walkway where the
ladies of the new club assembled, resplendent in their yellow dresses, for the
start of the proceedings. After introductions of the officials and the candle
lighting ceremony the ladies came down the stairs like models, as each was
introduced by their godmother and pinned by the charter officer. Of the
24 ladies there are three sets of mother/daughters emphasising the importance
of the family to these club members. Speeches of congratulations came from
throughout the world courtesy of the chatline –
Thank you ladies, the members were thrilled by all your good
wishes. Then came the very African dancing and singing. The day ended
with an excellent dinner and dancing to a live band until past 4am!
These Maseno women sure know how to party….
No sooner
had we got to bed than it was time to get up for a very early breakfast,
then Asha and I drove with other Soroptimists to Eldoret where we met with
many "Soroptimists in Training" to give them some more orientation
and prepare them for their induction the following weekend. It is
interesting that most SI clubs in Kenya meet on Sunday afternoon, as a lot of
members either walk or use public transport to meetings, an
undertaking that many do not feel comfortable doing after dark, which on
the equator is always around 6pm.
The following day Asha and two Soroptimists from Eldoret attended a symposium
that was a follow up to part of the Kenya Union’s award winning Women and
Climate Change project where they, along with government officials, and Danish
Soroptimists, have been working with textile factory owners to identify where
better, ecologically sound practices could be implemented. All the participants
report cost savings as well as less pollution. One small step on the road to
true sustainability…
While member numbers have been decreasing over the past few years it looks like
Soroptimism in Kenya is on an upswing! As well as the new club and the 12 new
members being inducted into the Eldoret Club, there is also a group of around
20 women working towards forming a club in Meru just north of Mount Kenya, under
the guidance of chatliner Sophie Koech. She travelled overnight along with two
women from this group overnight in a ricketty bus to get to the Meseno Charter
and then 24 hours later repeated the 8 hour journey to return home in time for
work on Monday! Given the poor quality of some of the roads they travelled on,
this is quite some dedication!
So, why
the upswing in SI Kenya? I believe the success of the Women and Climate
Change Project has given clubs a great opportunity to interact with the
community on a subject that the younger ladies feel passionate about.
Also, the opportunities to help educate girls is a big draw. Almost every
Soroptimist I have met is personally helping pay for the education of at least
one girl, most often an orphaned family member. Plus, as mentioned earlier,
there is a lot of desire to give back and honour those who helped them on their
way. True Soroptimism!