Eight members of SI Gosport and Fareham spent a busy morning packing parcels of clothing to be sent to Ethiopia.
In all 29 parcels, containing 34 shawls, 12 waistcoats, 75 hats and 120 pairs of bed socks, were ready to be despatched to the Fistula hospital at Addis Ababa.
The club has supported the hospital since 2004-05 when the then president Pam Simcock chose it as her charity.
“We’ve been sending parcels at least twice a year since,” she said. “And we also bought them a sewing machine.”
Pam has a coterie of knitters, some friends and some Soroptimists such as veteran club member Vi Maunder who knitted all the bed socks. Pam also does some knitting as well as collecting wool via a Winchester fabric shop.
“I have a notice in their wool department explaining why I require any spare wool and the system works very well.”
The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital treats women who have suffered horrific childbirth injuries.
The nurse aides are all ex-patients who have been unable to return to their homes. The hospital encourages them to regain as much independence as possible and providing them with work is one of the best ways to achieve this.
The hospital trains groups of women, who are recovering from their operations, in tailoring skills to help them to find work making dresses and uniforms.