An important part of all Soroptimist clubs is the links that are formed with fellow Soroptimists all over the world. Some of these links are informal, friends met at various conferences and conventions or by visiting another club when on holiday or working. Some of the links are more formal – and these are known as Friendship Links. Clubs pledge to maintain contact and here in the Surrey Hills, we have three Friendship Links. These are (in no particular order)
Freiburg, Germany, SI Europe
Traditionally, Clubs visit one another whenever possible and during the last visit to SI Freiburg, we had the opportunity to experience the Freiburg Soroptimists’ Second Hand Clothing event raising money for the local Women’s Refuge Centre. Many of the members worked extremely hard to entice members of the public to spend their money on new outfits. It was an all-day event and at the end they had raised an amazing £15,000!
Ribe, Denmark, SI Europe
The Club has also been fortunate to visit our friendship link club in Ribe, Denmark. Ribe is one of our friendship link clubs which help us as Soroptimists forge links over the world. Ribe had invited all of its friendship links, and a good weekend was had by all.
The picture shows member Moira demonstrating international friendship with the aid of a few glasses (which all seem to be empty)!
Esperance, Trinidad & Tobago, SIGBI. Our formal link with SI Esperance began during the Covid lockdown, but followed on from a visit by Rowena, a member of SI Esperance, who visits Camberley frequently.
We are proud that SI Esperance won the Delegates’ Choice award at our recent Conference for their project “Think before You Click”. This project helped one hundred students, protect themselves against gender-based violence, with a focus on cybercrime. The topics included Rights of the Girl Child, Grooming, Online Gaming, Sextortion and Cyberbullying presented by a UN cybercrime coordinator, assisted by two club members trained by UNODC in cybercrime prevention. Activities included video presentations, interactive sessions and a Q&A with prizes. The experts shared their insights and personal experiences with cybercrime cases.
This project enabled early intervention and helps to prevent and protect girls against digital gender-based violence, and the Club aims to train girls to be peer advocates for online safety within their school.