What are Woking Soroptimists doing now?
We’re reaching out to the community, learning more about our world, looking forward with hope.
Reaching out
We responded to the urgent appeal of our local Riding for the Disabled Group SAMBER. They urgently need funds to keep their stables going. More here
Learning more about our world
October is Black History Month – we’re learning fascinating things about Black people in Surrey who did a lot for their local community. Take a look at Surrey History Centre and find out more. And we’ve been given food for thought by the poem our member Barbara has written and performed at a Sutton Women’s Creative Writing ‘Black History Month’ event.
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We learned about the great work done by Send a Cow when two ambassadors for ‘Send a Cow’ came to talk to us. We discovered that Send a Cow started, real cows were shipped out to Africa to help smallholders earn a better living. And the farmers went with them to show the smallholders how to look after them! Today, Send a Cow still helps African communities in Ethiopia and other countries, to earn a living and lift themselves out of poverty. But they do it by giving smallholders training and business skills as well as giving them livestock.
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We learned what’s happening just now at Your Sanctuary. Fiamma Pather, CEO of Your Sanctuary, was invited by our sister Soroptimist International Club in Godalming, SI Surrey Hills, to give an update. See the latest info and how you can help here.
Looking forward with hope
Our photo shows one of the interns in South Africa using the laptop that was bought from funds sent by The news about the VIP internship project we support in South Africa is very encouraging. The two young interns, Koketso and Andile, are doing very well. They are giving excellent support to the pupils and staff alike. Even during the enforced school lockdown, they have worked hard to enhance their own learning and that of the local children in their townships. The Southern Region Soroptimists are so pleased and impressed by what the girls are achieving. In fact, we are now looking at ways of continuing to pay for them to do another year with the school so that they will be well prepared to train as qualified teachers. A very hopeful prospect for us and for South Africa!
Tulips from Amsterdam
10 October is World Mental Health Day and the 2020 theme was ‘Mental Health for All’.
Woking Soroptimists have given their own mental health a boost and also helped improve girls’ lives in India and Nepal.
How did we do that? By buying tulip bulbs to plant for a bright show of colour in our gardens next Spring. Planting in the autumn is an enterprise full of hope and hope is a great source of happiness.
We bought our 490 tulip bulbs – in Soroptimist colours! – from Holland because the money goes to help the Free a Girl ‘School for Justice’ programme. The School for Justice programme helps the survivors and daughters of survivors of sexual exploitation to find mental healing through study. In future, they will be lawyers, paralegals, police officers, social workers, sociologists and journalists in their country. They will be advocates for long-term change in Nepal and India. It’s a project full of hope for the future.
More : https://www.freeagirl.com/how-we-work/special-programmes/school-for-justice/