On Thursday, May25th, Rosemary Jenkinson who is the Regional Ambassador for the SIGBI Meru Garden Project in Kenya, visited our club to update us with the latest developments. Rosemary, who is a member of SI Sunderland, reminded us of the project’s origins and of the need for Soroptimists International’s involvement. The purpose of this project is to:
· To ensure women and girls who are leading households have food security
· To improve environmental sustainability
· To ensure economic, empowerment and employment for women
· To enable girls to complete their education
· To offer both formal and informal agricultural learning opportunities To reduce the possibility of child exploitation
Meru County in Kenya has a largely rural population of 136,000. HIV/AIDs are prevalent in the region and many families are headed by women and children.
Life is hard for women and children in Meru:
- 41% of women and girls are grossly or borderline malnourished
- 43% live below the poverty line of £1 per day, with more in rural areas
- 55% live a hand to mouth existence in agriculture using methods which degrade the land
- 93% use local trees for firewood, impacting hugely on deforestation
- 22% have no formal education
- 11% complete secondary education
- 8% achieve minimum levels for literacy compared to 85% in Nairobi
- 9% achieve minimum levels for numeracy compared to 87% in Nairobi
Facts and figures provided Patricia Gatherum (SINewcastle upon Tyne) who is Soroptimist International Meru Women’s Garden Project Liaison.
To date (April 2017), the Northern Region has contributed £2,124.00 to the project. Further information can be found at:
https://sigbi.org/our-charities/meru-womens-garden-project-2016-2019/
Rosemary also told us about a study tour of the project in March next year, the Day of Action on July 15th and ‘The Big October Supper’. The latter two are important fund raising events.