Annie Lennox with London Chilterns Soroptimists Julie Blackwell (l) and Johanna Raffan (r)

Soroptimists joined the march and stood in solidarity on the Millennium Bridge in London to mark International Women’s Day. This global event, organised by Women for Women International brought together women from their partner organisations including members of Soroptimist International. Annie Lennox, pop-star and campaigner, Sarah Brown, the Prime-Minister’s wife, Cherie Lunghi  the actress were there along with other prominent figures.  The event honours the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world. The 81 events worldwide symbolise building bridges to peace, sending a message that says “No!” to war and “Yes!” to peace and hope.

Women for Women International have sent this message:

“Thank you so much for having been a part of Women for Women International’s first ever Join Me on the Bridge event!  This year’s International Women’s Day saw women uniting all over around the world, speaking out and calling on their governments to invest more in women and girls.  Right now, we know that at least 103 Join Me on the Bridge events happened in 18 different countries worldwide.  Over 30 different organisations partnered with the campaign.

In Kosovo 5000 women attended the celebration on the Bridge in the Dragodan in Prishtina. In Bosnia hundreds of women attended a celebration on Ars Aevi Bridge in Sarajevo. In both countries, the presidents welcomed women. In Nigeria 500 women from seven communities gather at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium and walk to Okpara Square in Enugu. In Sudan, 445 people, women from all districts, came to Barnam Bridge in Rumbek, South Sudan. In Afghanistan, a group of Afghan girls met on a bridge. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women gathered in Goma for a parade followed by the crossing of Women for Women International-DRC Country Director Christine Karumba into Rwanda to build the bridges of peace with Rwandan women at the neutral Zone, Main Border, welcoming dignitaries and women there. In Rwanda, hundreds of women gathered at Giseyni, Kivu Beach. Women all over the world and in countries directly affected by conflict spoke out against war demanding peace.

Women also remembered their sisters in other countries like Iraq, where women were not able to meet on bridges due to the insecurity and for fear for their lives.

In London, over 500 women marched to Millennium Bridge, where they stood in solidarity with women around the world. There were Iranian mothers marching with us, they were reminding us that right now, women are standing up for their rights in Iran and are getting killed.   Here is a link to a video of the London March http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHqOUUzNhh4 “

The members of the fledgling club were very welcoming and well-prepared for the meeting.  Sally described the group as “really strong, enthusiastic and diverse”.

The group hoped to be chartered sometime in 2010 and become full members of Soroptimist International.  SI South Africa (and in particular SI Mafikeng, which are the closest club geographically) will be there to help them every step of the way.

People at all of these events will be signing our petition, so we can collect global support before taking it to the UNGASS in September.  The petition action will keep rolling after the campaign until the end of August so it would be fantastic if you could keep the link up on your websites until then.”

Five representatives from SIGBI will be attending WFWI’s celebration event at the Haunch of Venison, London, which will be a “celebration in dance”. 

Congratulations Erica.

For further details, see TNT Magazine.

30th January 2010

SI Bombay Gateway

31 January 2010

SI Pune Metro East

18th February 2010

SI Hyderabad Central

Congratulations to all SIGBI’s new Clubs.

Soroptimists from SI Bootle and SI Southport have been lobbying hard following the Motion at Conference to raise awareness of the dangers of sunbeds for young women. Dorothy Lee, Federation Councillor, South Lancashire has kept in touch with her MP, John Pugh,  and he recently emailed her to say

“I am happy to say that Julie Morgan’s sunbeds bill got through on Friday as expected without a vote. The critical thing is now whether the Government give it enough parliamentary time to get through before the General Election.”

The borough of Sefton has finished 8th out of 359 areas in a national survey into the amount of sunbed shops per 100,000 people.  There are 60 outlets operating in Sefton alone.  Merseyside has the highest incidence of malignant melanoma in the country.  The MPs for Southport and Bootle have been heavily lobbied by both clubs.  John Pugh MP for Southport has been lobbying Gillian Merron MP, Minister of State (Public Health) and Dr. Janet Atherton, Director of Public Health for Sefton is taking the matter up.  Officers from Sefton Council’s Environmental Protection Department will be undertaking inspections of sunbed establishments this year to ensure they are complying with the current regulatory regime.

Details from the debate can be found on the Hansard website page for 29^th January 2010.

Catherine Hamlin was awarded the prize for her fifty years’ dedicated work to treating obstetric fistula patients, thereby restoring their health, hope and dignity. Every patient is treated with respect and totally free of any monetary charge.

Soroptimists were privileged to be able to work with Catherine Hamlin in 2007 and 2008 with the President’s Appeal Projects – Restoring Dignity and Restoring Dignity – Securing a Future. Every dollar donated was used to improve the lives of the young women thereby fulfilling our Mission of transforming the lives of women and girls.  The two President’s Appeals were very successful contributing to a cafe teaching and employing young women.

Dr. Hamlin has been sent congratulations on behalf of members of SI. 

Now at the ripe old age of 90, for the first time in his life, Alleyne will be able to turn the taps on at his home. This has been made possible by the environment and health committee of Soroptomist International, which has been assisting elderly people with getting water to their homes since 1986.

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