At this year’s Board meeting in Cambridge, UK, we asked Soroptimist International board members and post-holders to bring with them an object important to them in their life as a Soroptimist. Many members brought in their wonderful items and shared with us their story. Below are but a few of these great stories!

Anne Gover, SISWP Federation Secretary, Gore, New Zealand explained to us that she was unable to bring her exact object with her because she had kindly passed it on to her daughter Sue who is now wearing it. Instead, she brought a photo from the August Federation Magazine displaying the very picture of her passing it on. What she passed on was a beautiful Soroptimist International badge.

“I had the privilege, as our Gore Club President was away, of inducting my daughter Sue Addison as a member of our Gore Club earlier this year. It was made even more special as I was able to use my mother’s and Sue’s grandmother’s (Nan Hildyard’s) Soroptimist badge.  Nan had been a member of both Invercargill and Nelson Clubs and had died in August 2011”.

Carolyn Hudson, President Elect of SISWP and former SI Treasurer, brought with her the insignia of the President Elect of SI South West Pacific which she describes is an honour for her to wear. 

“I chose this because I feel it embodies all the marvellous women I am following in my federation.  The SWP has bred many strong, vibrant leaders, several of whom have gone on to be International Presidents too.  In embodying these women, it also speaks of the exciting work our Federation has done since it was formed in 1978. The insignia is an “S” in silver, faced with Paua shell to signify New Zealand and mother-of-pearl for Australia and Fiji.  The chain was a gift from our mother Federation, SIGBI, for the charter of our Federation”.

Margaret Oldroyd, Vice President of SIGBI chose to bring with her a soapstone figure of a mother and child which was made in Zimbabwe.

“It reminds me of the first Club I ever visited outside of the UK which was SI Harare. I was a very new Soroptimist then and I was accepted and treated as a sister. The figure serves as a souvenir of that experience which always reminds me of the sisters that I have around the world and would never have known without SI”.

Yvonne Simpson, Immediate Past President, South West Pacific brought along her precious item which was a Pounamu! For those who don’t know what this is – it is a New Zealand green stone/jade stone. Pounamu, she says "has a special significance for the Maori and to receive a stone is an honour. It was given to me by a local Maori woman when I became federation president. It links me with the Korowai (Maori cloak) and its message: "It is the message not the person which is important". The wearer has the responsibility to share the message and the more the message is shared the more prestige and effect it has. This is symbolic of the advocacy work that SI does and needs to do".

Carwen Wynne Howells, SI Procedural Consultant, brought with her a soft toy, a grey rat called ‘Rattus’.

 

"He came into my possession in 2007 when my Region, Wales South, was working with the Red Cross in Sierra Leone on a project to ‘Lick Lassa Fever’.  I caused quite a stir at my local IKEA store when I purchased 120 rats ( actually it was a great way to tell people about the organisation and the sort of project work we were engaged in). The rats were then sold on ,at a profit, in aid of the project. The ‘rat’ theme really caught on , we had flying rats, rat races, name the rat competition etc etc.The rats proved to be very popular with members of SI. Initially the members of the Strategic Planning group acquired a rat and then three were requested to join the team at the UN in New York. Each rat has its own ‘personality’ and is usually named by its adopted parent."

"On a visit to Ann Yedowitz in March last year (shortly before she died) there was a rat reunion and somewhere there is a photograph of ‘Ratty’ ( Ann’s rat) ,’Rattata’( Ann Dawson’s rat) and ‘Rattus’ ( my rat). Both ‘Rattus ‘ and ‘Rattata’ are much travelled rats, both ‘live’ in their adopted parents cars and are a source of much amusement to passengers. They usually meet up at SI events  and over the years have proved to be a great way of introducing people to the work of the Organisation. It has to be said that not everyone appreciates having  the rats around and a number of people have questioned our sanity but quite unwittingly the rats have proved to be a great PR tool".

Ulrike Neubert, Federation Programme Director of Europe brought with her a pink flower. 

 

It was wonderful to see all Soroptimists bring in an item close to their hearts and tell us their inspired stories. We apologise we haven’t been able to showcase them all but we appreciate the effort taken and hope the above article displays what it truly means to some of our members to be a Soroptimist!