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Meru Garden Project

 meru garden1

On Thursday, May25th, Rosemary Jenkinson who is the Regional Ambassador for the SIGBI Meru Garden Project in Kenya, visited our club to update us with the latest developments.  Rosemary, who is a member of SI Sunderland, reminded us of the project’s origins and of the need for Soroptimists International’s involvement. The purpose of this project is to:

·         To ensure women and girls who are leading households have food security

·         To improve environmental sustainability

·         To ensure economic, empowerment and employment for women

·         To enable girls to complete their education

·         To offer both formal and informal agricultural learning opportunities To reduce the possibility of child exploitation

Meru County in Kenya has a largely rural population of 136,000. HIV/AIDs are prevalent in the region and many families are headed by women and children.

Life is hard for women and children in Meru:

  • 41% of women and girls are grossly or borderline malnourished
  • 43% live below the poverty line of £1 per day, with more in rural areas
  • 55% live a hand to mouth existence in agriculture using methods which degrade the land
  • 93% use local trees for firewood, impacting hugely on deforestation
  • 22% have no formal education
  • 11% complete secondary education
  • 8% achieve minimum levels for literacy compared to 85% in Nairobi
  • 9% achieve minimum levels for numeracy compared to 87% in Nairobi

Facts and figures provided Patricia Gatherum (SINewcastle upon Tyne) who is Soroptimist International Meru Women’s Garden Project Liaison.

 

 

meru garden 2

 

meru garden 3

 

  

 

To date (April 2017), the Northern Region has contributed £2,124.00 to the project. Further information can be found at:

https://sigbi.org/our-charities/meru-womens-garden-project-2016-2019/

Rosemary also told us about a study tour of the project in March next year, the Day of Action on July 15th and ‘The Big October Supper’. The latter two are important fund raising events.