Previous Club Meeting Events
September 2011 meeting
SIEL held a charity fund raising event at their September meeting in support of Redbridge Alzheimer’s Society. Some 35 people attended and the evening began with everyone enjoying a welcome glass of wine and light refreshments. Jean Thorpe, the President of our Club’s region, East Anglia, gave a short talk about the origin of Soroptimism and an outline of its aims and objectives. This was followed by Nancy Smith, Dementia Support Manager, Goodmayes Hospital, who gave an interesting talk on the work of the Alzheimer’s Society and the onset and progress of the illness. All proceeds from the evening will be going to work they are doing. The main event then began – Gill Stoker presented a one-woman show that gave an insight into the life of Dame Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragette- how Ethel battled with her father, studying music in Germany, her contacts with well known musicians, writers and her involvement with the suffragettes – all illustrated by a box of ‘junk’. Gill acted out the story in a very talented and versatile way ably assisted by one of our own club members.
At our August meeting the Rev. Helen Mathews from the Bromley -by- Bow Centre in Tower Hamlets gave a very interesting presentation of the work at the Centre and how the health care there for women and children is being developed in the Sylhet area in Bangladesh through their Proshanti project. Helen explained how Proshanti a new charity had began when in 2008 a group from Bromley- by Bow Centre went to the Sylhet to gain better understanding of Bangladeshi life and culture. Whilst there they were asked if they could help with their health needs. Antenatal care is non- existent and neonatal deaths are high. There are no trained midwives. Since then the team, including Dr Davis, G.P. and the practice nurse have been fundraising. The team held a health camp in 2010 treating 1,600 people and their aim now is to build a school, help the government run ante natal groups and train a ‘midwife’.
21st September 2010
SIEL made anti-trafficking the focus of their September business meeting and were very happy to welcome Superintendant Bernie Gravett of the Metropolitan Police to the meeting. He spoke about ‘Operation Golf’ which is a joint project between the Metropolitan Police and the Romanian National Police tackling a specific Romanian Roma organised crime network that are trafficking and exploiting children from the Romanian Roma community, one of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in Europe. According to the Metropolitan Police many Roma children are trafficked to the UK and forced to beg and steal on the streets by their handlers who send the bulk of the money back to a town in Romania where traffickers have built themselves palatial houses on the proceeds. The children are also used to bolster fraudulent benefit claims to bring in extra tax credits and child support.
‘Operation Golf’ is mainly funded from the EU and was launched shortly after Romania’s accession to the EU when police forces noticed a significant increase in street crime by Romanian children on the streets of London. To date, the UK investigation by ‘Operation Golf’ has led to the arrest of 126 individuals.
The meeting was very well attended with members from SI Southend and SI Colchester and City Gates Church Ilford. There were representatives from the Girl Guides, Rotary Club of Barkingside and ECPAT. Bernie’s talk generated much discussion particularly about what we as Soroptimists can do. The most important aspect identified was the need to lobby and raise awareness about the fact that the UK has not yet signed up to the EU protocol on trafficking of people. A raffle was held and the proceeds donated to ECPAT.
Since the meeting these events have been brought home to us here in East London where as reported in the Independent on 12th October police have broken open a complex trafficking network run from Romania. In a series of dawn raids on properties in Ilford, East London, officers found 103 children crammed into just 16 addresses. The raid, codenamed Operation Norman, is thought to be one of the largest ever conducted against Roma smuggling networks in Britain.
19th October 2010
A regular annual charity event for SIEL is our collection of Christmas boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. At our October business meeting we were very happy to welcome Gordon McCann and his wife Linda from the charity who talked about their work. Operation Christmas Child is the world’s largest children’s Christmas appeal with a heritage of 20 years. Last year alone nearly 1.2 million shoeboxes were sent from the UK to children in parts of Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. This year boxes will be going to Haiti as well. All shoeboxes are given to children in need, with no regard to their background or beliefs. The charity works with local partners on the ground to ensure that the gift-filled shoeboxes are delivered with respect to the local culture.
Samaritan’s Purse is a major international charity and Gordon gave us a brief insight into some of the work the charity does particularly in respect of women and children. This includes many water, sanitation and hygiene projects. As our boxes last year went to Liberia
he spoke about their efforts in this country to help educate women. The life expectancy in Liberia is just 42 years, one of the lowest in the world. UNICEF estimates that only 31% of Liberians have access to clean water, and only 10% in rural areas. The water crisis, coupled with the lack of proper sanitation facilities, leads to increased levels of disease. Samaritan’s Purse response was their projects to provide access to safe water through BioSand Water Filters (BSF), safe sanitation facilities for families, and health and hygiene education for rural Liberians. In addition, they run a reading and writing programme for rural Liberians.