We have a number of projects running in the club and we encourage every member to get involved in at least one of them. We are always keen to receive new ideas and to take on suggestions for lobbying and advocacy too so please bring your ideas, worthy causes and issues to one of our meetings!
At our AGM in April Project Lead Eleanor gave an excellent overview of our project activities during the year, you can find it here.
On International Women’s Day in March we launched Her Salisbury Story , a Heritage Fund supported project which aims to bring Salisbury’s heritage alive through the celebration of the lives of Salisbury’s women past and present. Over coming months, project volunteers will research, investigate, record and publish the true stories of the women of Salisbury both deceased and living.
On 16 March the final judging and award ceremony of the Salisbury Soroptimist STEM Challenge took place at the South Wilts University Technical College, Wilton Road, Salisbury. This is the third year that Salisbury Soroptimists have run the STEM Challenge for girls in local schools to raise their awareness of the inspiring career opportunities there are within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Our challenge to the year 8&9 girls was to research, design and develop a sustainable prototype for a solution to improve life for people living in poverty in the developing world.
Our annual quiz night in November enables us to continue to support our local Women’s Refuge – funds raised last year were used to repair and upgrade one of the bathrooms at the refuge. This event also allows to continue our sponsorship of a girl’s club at a Tanzanian school through local charity EdUKaid. The club has been set up as part of the Heshima Project menstrual health programme with the aim of educating and empowering girls to improving their life chances.
We are again collecting pre-loved bras for distribution to women in Africa through Smalls for All. They tell us that wearing a bra gives a woman dignity and can protect her from rape and sexual assault. We will sort, fold and pack the bras we collect for transportation to the charity at a fun ‘Bras and Bubbly’ event in the summer once we are able to meet again!
An unexpected stay in hospital is often uncomfortable. It may be that a routine procedure requires an unplanned stay, or medical staff advise you to stay overnight for observation once the procedure is over. We thought we would try to make those stays rather more comfortable by putting together and donating overnight bags with all the essentials for a pleasant wash, shower and the chance to brush teeth and apply deodorant! More than 60 packs like the one pictured here have been put together by Salisbury members and donated to the Durrington Ward of Salisbury District Hospital.
We are also pleased to support local charity EdUKaid with their development of an exciting new venture supporting the women of Mikindani in Tanzania to set up a sewing enterprise. This new project will provide local women with the space, tools, training and support they need to produce clothes for their families and generate a small income. We are also involved with their development of the Heshima Project which focuses on enabling the women to make sanitary products for young girls in school locally. Development workshops will help to support them with understanding of their bodies, menstruation and the reproductive process. Funds donated from our first annual quiz night in November 2018 have already enabled the purchase of two sewing machines in Mikindani.
Here is a full list of projects planned and underway in the coming year.
