Since October 2014, our Club has been supporting the No! FGM Campaign in the Mara region of Tanzania. In cooperation with SI Weybridge, we have sent £673.50 to the campaign. It has been very gratifying to receive regular reports about the campaign and see the great strides forward. A Safe House has now been built for girls wishing to avoid FGM, many parents and village elders convinced to abandon the practice, training and education organised for the girls in the Safe House and a 4×4 vehicle acquired. The other international charity we have supported this year is Water Aid: we raised £200 at our Annual Celebration in April 2015.
Locally, we have supported North West Surrey Samaritans and the local branch of the Motor Neurone Disease (MIND) Association. Our book sale made £200 for the Samaritans in June and the Wine Tasting held in our President’s garden in August made £450 for the MND Association.
We take pride in the fact that the 2014-15 SISE Regional President, Jackie Theobald, is a member of our Club and we were delighted that the SISE AGM this year was held in Woking on September 19th. It was a stimulating and enjoyable day, with an opportunity to talk to members from a dozen Soroptimist International Clubs in the Region and to listen to inspiring presentations from representatives of Amnesty International, Shifa and the Terence Higgins Trust. The speakers reminded us again how many women are fighting adversity and feeling ‘caged in’ by the stigma of HIV, by the deprivation of their human rights or by domestic abuse and the pressures of society – situations eloquently illustrated by Elaine Evans’ flower arrangement which was on display in the meeting room. A call to action for Soroptimists everywhere.
