Meru Women’s Garden Project 2016-2019 – report from Janice Rees
Aberdeen Soroptomists got off to a good start fundraising for this worthwhile Federation project. This is a three year project in partnership with child.org to educate, empower and enable women in Meru to become self-sufficient. We will support some of the poorest women-led households in Kenya. The focus will be to provide opportunities for women and girls to feed their families, earn an income and give them status within their community.
Our first year has seen us raise a grand total of £1,651. We kicked off our first event by celebrating the Queen’s 90th birthday. Other events have been well supported and included a buffet evening, curry night, sale of unwanted Christmas presents and a sale of recipe cards and books.
This next year we are planning more fund raising events and plan to have fun while we do it.
So far 198 women have taken part in the educational elements of the project which is classroom based. They will be moving onto the practical training within the next month. Basic gardening tools will be distributed and, once the land has been prepared, the seeds will be distributed.
We are all looking forward very much to seeing the gardens and sharing photographs with our member1