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

The stories behind the artwork for this project    Birmingham New Street is to host a unique art installation which celebrates 100 years since women first got the right to vote. The ‘Face of Suffrage’ artwork will be a floor-based, 200 metre-square photo mosaic consisting of more than 3,500 images of females from across the West Midlands and beyond. It will be made up of a combination of historical images of women involved in the suffragette movement from the West Midlands in the early 1900s and of pictures of females from today. When viewed from above, the mosaic will show a leading face – still to be decided – from the suffrage movement in the West Midlands. This is a photo of some of the members of Soroptimist International of Kenilworth & District on Thursday 11 October 2018 following a lively discussion about our current

At our business meeting this month, Gill B gave a short talk about the work of MIND with young people.  A special MIND advisor is working with schools in Warwickshire to support youngsters with mental health issues. We will be hearing from her in the new year.   Gill stressed the importance of coordinated mental health help in order to provide continuity.

indonesian coffee morning 7.10.18 Club members responded magnificently to the call from Tricia to support a coffee morning at Trish’s to raise some urgent funds to help the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in the Phillipines. With only a few days notice, over £130 was raised. World Vision manager Radika Pinto, reporting from affected area, says the earthquake and tsunami destroyed villages and blocked access, causing a “catastrophic situation.” Radika says while local efforts are still primarily focused on search and rescue, “I’m afraid the death toll is going to continue to rise dramatically. The smell of death is still strong in the air