Click on the image above to view photographs of Club Projects

SI Pune Metro East, India.  In an effort to increase access to formal and non-formal learning
opportunities, Soroptimist International Pune Metro East, India recently worked
in partnership with the Deep Griha Society, Pune, to design modules to impart
life skills to young girls and women so as to effect change in their lives and
that of their families and communities. Modules included nutrition, hygiene, self-awareness, entrepreneurship, yoga to
de-stress and promote better breathing, home budgeting and gender
sensitization. Conducting lectures and interactive sessions with hands on
demonstrations and activity sessions, the girls were introduced to concepts
which would offer them better choices in how they negotiate through
life. 

SI Bangsar, Malaysia.  About fifty children, including boys from
different age groups, pre-registered for a series of new Saturday classes as
part of a new creativity programme held at Suria Bangsar South Resource Centre.
SI Bangsar club members, working in partnership with UOA Development Berhad,
developed three creativity modules for different age groups, which included fun
and interactive activities such as board games and puzzles, creative art and crafts, cooking and role playing. The project looks set to continue
to increase the attendance of the children at the Resource Centre, providing opportunities
and resources for children of low income families to be engaged in creative
activities outside school environments.  The project supports the National Education Transformation programme and the UN
Millennium Goals in educating children with 21st century skills. 

SI Cairns, North Queensland, Australia.  Empowering women to create their own income from traditional
skills, SI Cairns provided funding for a lovely project, purchasing the materials
required for the construction of four weaving looms for a Bhutanese women’s
group. The provision of sewing machines and materials for sewing classes within
this ongoing project means the Bhutanese women’s group are able to use traditional
weaving crafts to create saleable goods for local markets; Increasing awareness
in the community with the result of a sustainable financial benefit to the
Bhutanese community.
Opportunities to learn conversational English were also given,
with the women enjoying their first experience of eating out in a restaurant, sharing
their refugee camp experience and for the first time, ordering from a menu.

SI Fremantle, Western Australia.  Children in foster care are often traumatised and as a result suffer from behavioural issues and set backs
in language and literacy development. Providing comfort was the purpose of a recent project led
by SI Fremantle. Entitled I Spy Quilts for Foster Children, the project set out
to provide an item that those in foster care could keep, made specially for them,
in the hope that it might provide comfort and motivation for conversations
with care givers. Distributing brochures on the project to quilt and craft
groups throughout Western Australia, SI Fremantle asked quilters to create
quilts specifically for foster children. The quilts made were sent to SI coordinators who then delivered the quilts to Foster Care Association WA for
distribution to children in care around the State. As an ongoing project, Si
Fremantle receives anecdotes from Foster Care Association when they deliver the
quilts or hand them to children coming into their offices. Quilters have the satisfaction
of knowing that the quilt they stitched has conveyed their love to a child in
need.

SI of Chennai, India
has demonstrated the success that can be achieved by working with corporate
partners. Club members contacted Hyundai Motor India Limited to request
support for underprivileged schools in their community. Having
provided a strong case, they were able to obtain sponsorship for 150 dual
desks and benches. This will have far reaching benefits for the
students as they are now able to concentrate and
work comfortably in their classrooms. Not stopping there, SI Chennai
intend to secure further sponsorship for other classroom furniture and
computers!

SI Lautoka, Fiji
has shown the strength of sisterhood this month as they have responded to
a request from their community to fund the installing of much
needed water tanks throughout local rural areas. To achieve this, Si
Lautoka researched the costs of the storage systems and then teamed
up with their sister clubs across Soroptimist International of the
South West Pacific for extra support. The building work is already under way
and now the community has hope of a future with fewer health risks as families
will have safe drinking water during times of natural disaster.

SI Tynedale, Northern England has
supported the Talensi Area Women’s Development Project in Northern Ghana
to empower a woman who would otherwise be too elderly to
secure her own trade. SI Tynedale sold household items at a local fair
to fund the donation of a female goat. Once this goat has had a female
kid, this kid is then given to another woman. In this way, the project has
over the years been able to provide over 75 goats to women in 5 different
villages from friendships and donations like those from SI Tynedale.

SI North Bombay, India
has raised funds to secure the provision of low cost sanitary napkin machines
to be installed in its local community centre. The funds raised also provided
raw material for the napkins and training for underprivileged women to learn
how to professionally pack and sell the napkins. This project will have
enormous benefits for women and girls; not only for their health
but also for their schooling and jobs which will no longer
be disrupted by their monthly cycle.

SI Saint Albans and District,
England has shown the importance of
sustained support for their local women’s refuge. In response to recent council
funding cuts during a time of increased demand for the centre,
SI Albans and District has provided the shelter with funds for
refreshments and essential items for women setting up new homes. They funded
this support by singing carols at their local train station to mark Human
Rights Day, opened a charity car park, and sold books at a stall to celebrate
World Literacy Day. They have since built a good relationship with the
Refuge Managers who have expressed thanks for the on-going support.

SI Brande, Denmark
conducted a series of lessons for high school students to help
increase their understanding of other peoples living conditions. As a result of
these lessons, students concluded that the most effective and sustainable way
to improve a communities living conditions is to start by ensuring that all
children have access to education. Inspired by their
Soroptimist teachers, the students decided to raise funds for a
school in Burkino Faso. The entire year group became involved and soon
there was enough funding to supply electricity, blackboards and sports
equipment. This shows the importance of teaching future generations about
the need for education for all. 

SI Gold Coast, Australia
has created a lending team that provides individual loans of $25 to women for
the purpose of developing their own businesses. The club has made a
total of 68 loans sourced from various fundraising activities. The loans are
always repaid in the required timeframe and can then be reinvested in another
woman’s business. Examples of the success of this project include Reina in
Nicaragua, who has used her loan to buy food for the cattle that she breeds to
sell so that her children can afford an education, and Linh in Vietnam, who has
bought fire wood to sell and generate income to improve her family’s living
conditions.

SI Gold Coast, Australia and SI
Darkhan, Mongolia have teamed up to meet
the accommodation needs of homeless women in Mongolia who have been
deserted by their husbands by building them their own home, or Ger. Now that
these women have secure accommodation, they have an increased access
to income earning opportunities and their children will benefit from easier access
to educational opportunities.

SI Calcutta, India
has been hosting tutorial lessons for children who are falling behind with
their studies. The lessons are held on the school premises in the evenings and
focus on improving the children’s’ English and Mathematics. The project has
been running since 2009 and has shown excellent results in the children’s
academic ability and commitment to learning.

SI of Yreka, CA.’ I’m Special for 8th Grade Girls’ recognizes the struggles young girls have transitioning
from middle school to high school; this annual project which has been running for
26 years, helps girls to see their potential, understand their uniqueness and help
identify resources to assist them. Empowering girls to reach their full
potential is the aim, knowing they can do whatever they can dream, regardless
of where they might be presently. 8th grade girls are invited to a day-long conference to
celebrate encourage and inform. An inspirational speaker shares their own
stories of success and a speaker discusses healthy relationships, what they
look like and don’t look like. Workshops teach basic life skills alongside an anti-bullying
session, ending with an exuberant dance session. As an ongoing project, the programme is continually modified
based on feedback received from various sources so that the most can be gotten
out of the program for each girl attending.

SI Ravenna, Italy. ‘Hidden links – signs of abandoned
children in Ravenna in the XVIII-XIX century’, is a wonderful project run together with Archivio di Stato Ravenna, London Foundling Hospital ,Coram (London) dedicated to abandoned babies. Documents and objects (‘tokens’) were identified, left by
the mothers at the time of the abandonment of newborns in the mid-eighteenth to
the nineteenth century .These tokens were left by mothers with infants at the
moment of abandon. The tokens were shown in an exhibition at the State Archive
of Ravenna and a book was written that explains in detail, not only the
exhibition, but also the history of abandons, from different points of view. The
book also includes four life stories. Si Ravenna wanted to convey a glimpse into these heart-wrenching
stories and the world that surrounded them; to make sure that vulnerable
children are central to policy and practice.