Heswall & District Soroptimists Believe to Achieve Gender Equality. For 16 Days of Activism starting 25th November to 10th December, Soroptimists everywhere will #OrangetheWorld.   Each of the 16 Days we celebrate marks a step towards women’s rights and a safe space for them.  Soroptimist International believes that women’s rights are human rights and through our work in the communities we work with that objective. Beginning with the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25th November, Soroptimists follow UN Days to transform lives of women and girls. We rally against Child Marriages, Human Trafficking, Modern Day Slavery, Rape, Sexual Exploitation, Female Genital Mutilation, Human Rights Defenders and Sexual Harassment at Workplace. On 10th Dec the last day, we honour the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   Each day is a call for action and provides a focus for our projects. Commemorating these days

October is the month to wear pink to promote breast cancer awareness and SI Heswall held its annual pink themed event  recently – remotely! A virtual coffee morning was very successful both socially and raising funds through donations for Breast Cancer Now. (https://breastcancernow.org) The charity’s work continues to offer care and support to those who develop breast cancer and to continue its research.

Modern Slavery - the illegal trade and exploitation of human beings. It is an umbrella term that encompasses slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking. As a response to Project Glasshouse, the regional project focussing on Modern Slavery, Heswall members undertook a survey of members’ shopping habits for fresh food to gain information about what was important such as price, country of origin and availability. Respondents highlighted their concerns for and knowledge of significant issues in the production of our food, namely Modern Slavery, environmental impact, and farming practice and Animal Welfare. Sunday 18th October is Anti Slavery Day.

Autumn plant sale A group of members arranged a plant sale in Sue’s garden and had a fine afternoon for this very successful event which raised funds for the Presidents’ charities this year – Action with Young Carers Wirral and Wirral Fund for Children with Special Needs. In addition to a selection of plants fresh produce and a range of home-made jams and pickles were very popular. Social distancing was maintained, and members and friends were able to catch up over cups of tea and coffee.

Awareness, Advocacy and Action on Violence Against Women and Girls           Heswall members joined SI Chester’s zoom meeting with Ayushi Kundu, ambassador for the SI President’s Appeal 2019-2021. Ayushi outlined the categories of the Appeal and, despite the current pandemic, the progress to date. SI President, Sharon Fisher, has chosen The Road to Equality as President’s Appeal which  strategically focuses on taking Action and Advocating on topics affecting women and girls, including Child Marriage, Female Genital Mutilation, Domestic Violence, Rights of Older Women, Migration, and Human Trafficking, incorporating a mix of projects, alongside education, to build awareness and engage Soroptimists and friends through discussion, webinars, access to tools, facts and stories.

International Day of Friendship on Thursday 30th July was celebrated with a zoom meeting with one of SI Heswall’s friendship links, SI Medway and Maidstone and their other linked clubs - SI Accra (Ghana), SI LeQuesnoy (France), SI Osnabruck (Germany) and SI Voorburg (Netherlands). After introductions each member gave a brief overview of our clubs and activities. The approach to choosing and running projects was similar in all clubs and ideas were shared. It was clear we had a lot in common and as Soroptimists are all working to help our local communities and continuing this during the current pandemic. All clubs have been affected by COVID 19 and are using zoom meetings to keep in touch and following the success of this meeting it is hoped to repeat it.

Members of SI Heswall have taken part in The Big Story fundraising event to support the SIGBI project Empowering Girls in Nepal. This three-year project will be raising vital funds to make a real and sustainable difference to the lives of vulnerable and trafficked girls in Nepal. SIGBI’s partner is ChoraChori whose mission is to rescue Nepalese children from abusive situations in Nepal and India, manage their trauma and reintegrate them, where possible, with their families and communities. This project not only delivers against our Soroptimist goals but also aligns with 7 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and is an excellent example of working in positive partnerships.

‘Second Chance’, our pop-up charity shop, has been launched and will run through the summer. Held in Janice’s garden it had an amazing first day and raised over £100 in donations. Social distancing was maintained, including in the coffee shop. The proceeds will support the Presidents’ charities this year – Action with Young Carers Wirral and Wirral Fund for Children with Special Needs.

As the Coronavirus lockdown begins to ease support for the Refuge continues. SI Heswall members have made a batch of face masks for the residents and delivered them with baby clothes to Wirral Women & Children’s Aid

Throughout the Coronavirus lockdown the team at Action with Young Carers Wirral has been able to assist their young people and families in the following key ways. Providing shopping vouchers and funds for food shopping when access to retail was difficult and at a time when families were shielding/had underlying health conditions that meant they couldn’t or were scared to go outside of the family home for fear of bringing Coronavirus into their homes. Staff were able to pick up/drop off supplies at a safe distance. Assisting with cleaning supplies for their home/hand sanitisers if needing to go out. Purchasing mobile phone top ups. Many of the young people/families have ‘pay as you go’ mobiles but were unable to purchase top ups. Staff were able to purchase top ups for them either via on-line facility or dropping off to the homes for them. Lockdown has highlighted