Club Meetings
Our AGM will be held in April at The Ipswich & Suffolk Club, preceded by a light supper. And we will be updating our members on progress to date re our Women’s Safety Project first initiative – the distribution of Soroptimist Safety Cards in Ipswich.
Club Meetings in 2023/early 2024 included:
Refuge in Literacy UK – March 2024
We were fortunate to have had contact with Anne Stairmand when she was starting up her Community Interest Company coming up for 3 years ago. Refuge in Literacy UK encourages authors to donate signed copies of their children’s books to local domestic violence refuges for families and children in the Refuge or elsewhere. Given our desire to do what we can to help Lighthouse Women’s Aid in Ipswich we were interested in finding out more about this organisation. There is no doubt that where families have suffered from domestic abuse, be they having had to flee to a refuge or stay somewhere else, there is a heavy toll on children. Their schooling may be interrupted, membership of a library may no longer be possible and reading can become a thing of the past. It is too easy to fall behind. Many children love reading but if it is no longer part of their everyday it impacts on their world, their imagination, their ability to catch up on many school subjects. their mental health.
Now they are more established we wanted to explore the possibility of working in some form of partnership.
Since launch Refuge in Literacy have donated books to over 150 refuges and have more than 65 authors who have supported their charity.
Added to this, Anne’s vast experience in education has enabled her to devise a reading prompts programme for parents. This enables parents to ask incisive questions with higher order thinking, questioning and answering skills to their children so that texts, media etc can be fully understood.
They have 8 pilot groups with whom they work closely, focusing on the power of the reading prompts for parents, children and organisations themselves such as Victim Support.
Their patron Stephen Holland, Comic Laureate from 2021 to October 2023 is fully committed to their focus and cause.
They now feel ready to move forward and further develop their links and we wanted to explore the possibility of working alongside them, together enabling expansion of their scheme to mutual benefit of victims of domestic abuse, Refuge in Literacy and Ipswich Soroptimists.
Lighthouse Women’s Aid
We visited their new premises which are very impressive and provide an improved environment for all the work they do with domestic abuse victims. This Ipswich based Women’s Centre is focused on helping women affected by domestic abuse from across Suffolk, either currently or in the past. They offer a range of courses for women, for example, The Freedom Programme and Power To Change, as well as for young people and children who have been affected by domestic abuse. Our Club has supported them for many years and it was good to have an update from Deb Johnson on their work and the new initiatives that have been put in place.
At Christmas we made a donation of £200 towards Christmas presents for their clients and families and this Easter we are donating £50 towards Easter Eggs. We regularly provide toiletries and have also donated food for those who are moving out of refuge and into their own living space.
Suffolk Pride
The Media Officer of Suffolk Pride gave us a moving and enlightening talk on their period of transition having decided that being a woman in a man’s body was not sustainable. The talk was open and frank and we hope to continue the conversation in the near future.
Suffolk Refugee Support
In 2023, we offered a ‘Day Out’ to ladies from Ukraine who are currently refugees in our area. We had a great time in Felixstowe, even the weather was kind. One of their number has now come to some of our meetings and has updated us on the situaiton in her home country.
Modern Slavery/Human Trafficking
Following a talk a while back from Carol Dickinson, Suffolk Constabulary, we have kept in touch with developments following her response to our questions on how the Force tracks and counters such crimes and how they work with Suffolk County Council, local District Councils and Ipswich Borough Council to identify victims of this appalling crime and provide support. It is encouraging to see the seriousness that all attach to eliminating the impact this crime has on vulnerable people. Sadly the UK is one of the countries where modern slavery and human trafficking is rife in both urban and rurual areas, many of the people being UK Nationals as well as those from other countries.
We lobbied the UK Government on the need to appoint a new Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner given the long delay and at last, in December 2023, it was announced that Eleanor Lyons, who at that time was the current Deputy Children’s Commissioner, had been selected to take up the role. She will play a key role in helping to drive the UK’s response to this devastating crime. The unique role was established by the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and is independent of government.
Recently, on a flight from Central America, one of our members found a flyer that talked about this subject and asked passengers to look around and see if anyone on the plane appeared to demonstrate all characteristics that help identlify someone in this predicament, who their ‘minder’ is and what steps can be taken. It occurred to us that Soroptimist International, as a worldwide organisation, is potentially in a position to engage with airlines, perhaps starting with our own carriers in the UK, to jointly produce such a flyer and increase awareness of this crime that entraps so many people.
We now also plan to ask businesses how they check their supply chains to ensure that slave labour is not being used – a social audit carried out by a 3rd party is not sufficient. So members will be following up to obtain a better picture of how this crime against humanity is being investigated and what success is being achieved.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Inspired by our Regional President, we explored the degree to which each of our Programme Actions fulfills which needs. It was quite illuminating and we plan to use it to understand the needs of any future Projects we plan to undertake. It might be a very old model of thinking but still has its uses.
UN International Day of Literacy
Our chosen reading in recognition of UN International Day of Literacy this year, ‘Conundrum’ by author Jan Morris, was appropriate in light of our talk from Suffolk Pride and the discussion at one of our meetings helped us understand more of the issues that are faced by those who wish to transition.
Assisted Dying
A topical subject that is quite divisive, we had a thought provoking presentation from one of our members who conducted research in to this subject with relatives of those who were determined to end their life due to disabilities and diagnosis of incurable conditions. There is a certain amount of lobbying taking place on this issue given several countries have legislated to make it legal and others are seriously looking at the implications. It is certainly complicated but given suicide is legal in the UK there is a precedent to legalise assisted dying.
Visitor from SI Bangsar
We were delighted to welcome Conny Looui Osborne from SI Bangsor who gave us insight to the Programme Action work they are doing, motivating members and helping local communities. Bangsar is a suburb of Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. Conny’s enthusiasm was catching and we learned a lot from each other – it is always good to wexchange ideas with our Sisters from other parts of the world. We hope to see her again soon as she regularly visits the UK.
If you care about social issues as we do please get in contact via this website or on our Facebook page: Soroptimist International of Ipswich.
Regional Meetings
In addition to our monthly Club meetings we have Regional Meetings three times a year when all 10 Clubs in the London Anglia Region get together to exchange ideas, knowledge and have speakers who have a lot of experience in the issues that are important to us.
In June 2023 our speaker was from Support Cambodia, a small Norfolk-based charity providing help for economically and socially disadvantaged communities in North-West Cambodia. The Trustees regularly visit Cambodia and work with local contacts either Church or Health based individuals. They may be small but they achieve a lot helping clients to develop economically viable skills and providing the resources to use those skills. A number of us bought some of their beautiful items made by those who have learnt sewing skills and provided with sewing machines
In September we moved to our new venue, Meadows Community Centre, Cambridge, conveniently located just off the A14. This was essentially a Business meeting but we also had a talk from Janet Porter, SI Kings Lynn about ‘Keeping Moving’ which involved demonstration and participation in exercises to keep our joints working.
In November 2023, we had a talk from Mary’s Meals who provide life-changing school meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. The promise of a good meal brings hungry children into the classroom, where they can gain an education and better opportunities for the future. Their meals make it possible for hungry children to come to school and give them the energy they need to concentrate and participate in class. We are already serving 2,429,182 children every school day – and, together, we can reach the next hungry child waiting for Mary’s Meals. It costs just £19.15 to provide a child with meals in a place of education for a whole school year.
We have a Regional Social Lunch planned in March. Our Region will then be meeting again this coming June, September and November and we eagerly await to know who the key speakers will be.