To raise awareness,  Soroptimists around the country will be wearing these badges and sporting orange clothing

Jan Bowden, immediate past president of MAR, came to speak to us about her work as an English tutor at a local men’s prison.   As a good Soroptimist should, she challenged us about some of our perceptions of prisoners, their offences, rehabilitation and the life and conditions for prison officers too.   Even has the balance with the #metoo campaign shifted too far so that men are unfairly imprisoned due to a culture of compensation? What shone through was her love and passion for her work, her willingness to give these prisoners a chance and celebrate success, and the value of education both for prisoners and officers We also celebrated our Friendship Links around the country and the world by lighting candles, ably led by Georgie

According to an article on the BBC website An average of 137 women across the world are killed by a partner or family member every day, according to new data released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Women are much more likely to be killed by someone close to them.   Women in Africa are most at risk compared to the rest of the world.   The new UNODC report suggests that a large share of violence against women is “widely underreported to authorities and that a large share of such violence is hidden”.  

Today is the start of the UN campaign –16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls. The campaign runs every year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. It was initiated in 1991 by the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute, held by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University      

Our photo is one of more than 3,700 images used to create the face of Hilda Burkitt, part of the Face of Suffrage art work at Birmingham New Street Station! Read more about this amazing lady  – Face of Suffrage    

  Charity is now in charge of what is called the Nursery Ward which holds very sick babies in an ICU corner and runs outpatient days for new mums and babies. (Charity was the first nurse that our Club sponsored to train to care for very sick children via the charity Friends of Sick Children in Malawi)

This year, the centennial of the cessation of hostilities in the First Wold War fell on Remembrance Sunday itself, adding extra poignancy to the occasion.   President Anita represented our Club at the annual service at Kenilworth Memorial.        

On behalf of Club I attended a session organised by Suki Rai (SI Rugby) from EQUIP (Equality and Inclusion Partnership) on the subjects of Domestic Violence, Safeguarding and Child Exploitation, and Forced Marriage and Honour Based Abuse. All three main speakers were excellent and very informative about their particular areas. However the most powerful (and distressing as a parent) was the one given by Elizabeth. She was one of the over 1400 children sexually exploited in the Rotherham scandal and describes herself as a survivor. You can follow her campaign Dare to Care via Twitter elizabeth #1400campaign Key learning points for me were – Simply defining what is abuse: If you are forced to change your behaviour because you are frightened of you partner’s reaction, you are being abused. There is no such thing as a child prostitute but a child who has been sexually

  Once again we helped out with refreshments at the flu clinics held at Castle Medical Centre.   We couldn’t offer badges to say that patients had been ‘brave’ when they’d had their flu jab but were able to serve them with a cuppa and a smile. Thanks to the generous donations from the people of Kenilworth, we raised over a £160.   This will be split between our Wellbeing Fund for the local Women’s Refuge and President Anita’s chosen international charity HOOP

Great news from our Friendship Club SI Blantyre about the knitting club we have sponsored through Friends of Sick Children in Malawi Dear Sharon thanks for the update, i met with Alexis and her husband here in Blantyre and together with Alexis we went to Queens and delivered some wool and needles the support staff in the Kangaroo ward were positive about helping the women knit. Priscilla has promised to send photos with the next update